Council chiefs seek compromise with school bosses and residents over use of Peterborough's Werrington Fields to end seven year row
Council chiefs are looking to end a seven year dispute with school bosses and residents over the use of Peterborough’s Werrington Fields.
Peterborough City Council has proposed a compromise solution for Werrington Fields that seeks to finally resolve the dispute between the Ken Stimpson Academy and local residents.
The proposed solution involves the creation of a lease between the council and the 4Cs Academy Trust, which runs the school, for the playing fields (known as Area C) but excluding a sizeable strip of land that will be retained by the council for community use, such as dog walking.
In addition, the council will enter into a new Community Use Agreement with the trust that will enable Area C to be used by the community at specified times after school and at weekends.
If the plans are approved by the council’s ruling cabinet on March 24, it will also end a costly court room battle that began when the trust sought a judicial review of the matter in the High Court.
If agreed, the solution will mean that an area of about eight football pitches will be fenced off for use the school for sport, PE and other educational activities.
The school has maintained it needed this amount of land for its sports provision and that the area should be properly fenced off to safeguard pupils.
However, members of the community and the Save Werrington Fields campaign group have always said that the fields had always been open to public use and that should remain the case.
They disputed the amount of land the school required and urged that any area allocated to the school should not be fenced off.
A council spokesperson said: “The land in question is designated education land and the Department for Education has confirmed that this designation cannot be changed.
"Ken Stimpson is the only school in the city without a fence around its playing fields, and one of only a few nationally.”
The new recommendations follow a Cabinet meeting last October when members instructed officers to seek an adjournment of the judicial proceedings.
Councillor Katy Cole, the council’s Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, said: “After many years of procrastination we are close to being able to agree a way forward.
"It is so important, for the children of the school, that we do not allow any further delay.
“I would like to thank officers for taking Cabinet members’ instructions last October and finding a way forward with the academy trust.
"The proposed approach will allow pupils to once again access the outdoor space, whilst also attempting to balance the needs of residents by allowing a sizeable strip of land to remain in community use for dog walking and other activities.
"This would be in addition to other areas of open space in this part of Werrington and a Community Use Agreement which will allow the community to use the land known as Area C at specified times after school and at weekends.
“The recommendations to Cabinet look to meet the needs of all parties – the school, its pupils and the residents - but it is also the best option for taxpayers as a whole as it avoids what we know could have been a very costly Judicial Review process running into tens of thousands.”
The council has previously purchased fencing to use for the land at Ken Stimpson, which has remained in storage.
Once a decision is made, this fencing will be used, however it is expected additional fencing will need to be purchased to secure the entire proposed area.