School’s fence plan put back to allow time for more local talks

AN ONGOING row over plans to build a fence around a playing field in an affluent Sheffield suburb is set to escalate, after councillors failed to determine the planning application yesterday.

Members of Sheffield Council’s planning board were set to decide whether Hallam Primary School should be allowed to build a 2.4m high fence around the open-access field, which it says is leaving the school grounds open to arson attacks, graffiti, intruders and vandalism.

However, after the majority of councillors said they were prepared to vote against the recommendation of planning officers and refuse the application, it was instead agreed to defer the plans to be decided in two months’ time.

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In the interim, the school has been asked to consult with members of the local community – who have vehemently opposed the scheme – and come up with an agreement which would see the public still able to use the field should the fence be erected.

Coun Arthur Dunworth told yesterday’s meeting: “The school is seeking to crack a nut with a sledgehammer. They want more space for itself, but they want it by taking that space away from other people.

“What sort of example is that to give the kids? This is so manifestly against what the local people want.”

More than 220 people wrote to Sheffield Council opposing the fence, claiming it would prevent people using public land which has been open for generations.

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They say a proposed community use agreement drawn up by Hallam Primary School, which would allow access to the field at certain times and by appointment, was unacceptable as it would prevent people using the land spontaneously.

On the draft community agreement, members of the public would only be allowed to use the field from 6pm to 8pm during the week and on Saturday afternoons – rather than the round-the-clock access they enjoy now.

Coun Ibrar Hussain said: “I call this the agreement from hell. I have no problem with making schools safer and more secure, but this agreement is one-sided.

“I’m disappointed and I think the school should have gone further and worked with the local community.”

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Martin Nicholson, speaking on behalf of the objectors, said: “There has been no community cohesion. The community are 100 per cent against the present agreement. We have full access to that field every day of the year and we always have had.”

Nick Stratford, from the Hallam Community Youth Association, said that approving the plans would be “driving a coach and horses through the council’s own policy” in terms of taking away open space from the local community.

Eighty-three people, meanwhile, submitted letters of support, saying that the safety of children should be the priority.

Coun Gary Weatherall backed them, saying: “We have heard it has been luck that the school is still in one piece. This is costing the school all the time, in terms of vandalism and repairs.”

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City planners had recommended that permission for the fence should be granted, pointing out that the school would be within its rights to build a two-metre-high fence without planning permission.

This fence, just 0.4m smaller than the one applied for, would also have prevented the public from using the site.

In their report to councillors, the planners said: “It is not ideal to enclose a large playing field.

“However, it is clear that the school feels the need to protect the school buildings and children. On balance, the proposed development is deemed to be acceptable.”

The application will now go back before Sheffield Council’s west and north area planning board after the school and the local community have attempted to thrash out an agreement.