Werrington Fields to be fenced off to 'safeguard' pupils

Since opening in 1982, the school has had an agreement with the local authorities to use the fields for sport, while the public had access

Controversial plans to entirely fence off playing fields used by the public will be going ahead, a council said.

Peterborough City Council said it needed to safeguard secondary school pupils from Ken Stimpson Academy who use Werrington Fields for play.

Campaigners have been calling for the fields to be kept open to the public for community use.

Councillors will discuss where the fence will be and who will be allowed access when at an upcoming meeting.

The row over Werrington Fields began in 2019, when the council first proposed fencing off part of them for use by the school during term time, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

This followed "a series of incidents of antisocial and threatening behaviour" including young adults who were drunk and disorderly disrupting the school's sports day, mopeds being ridden over the playing fields, cases of out of control dogs and fouling, the council said.

Peterborough City Council owns the Werrington Fields site, part of which is designated open public space

The council then secured planning permission for part of the land to be fenced off, but faced a challenge from local residents and campaign groups over the perception it was taking away a designated public open space.

As a result, the authority obtained legal advice which suggested it should seek to formally change the use of the part of the land it wished to fence off for sole use by the school. 

In order to do this, it applied to the secretary of state for education for permission - but this was refused. 

When it submitted its application, the council stated on its website: "It is likely that if the secretary of state does not grant content, the fencing of the entirety of the area to ensure safeguarding may be the only viable option left." 

Campaign groups, including Save Werrington Fields, say that the land was "safely shared by the school and community for 40 years".