"Their plans rip the heart out of Werrington’s green space"- Emotional plea from former Ken Stimpson student as council set to decide on Werrington Fields dispute

A recent former student at Ken Stimpson Academy has pleased with the school and council not to ‘rip the heart out of Werrington’s green space.

Peterborough City Council’s cabinet is set to meet on Tuesday (October 15) to discuss a recommendation to approve a 125 year lease for an area the size of eight football pitches to the Ken Stimpson Academy for sports use.

The same area, known as Area C, will be fenced off as a pupils’ safeguarding measure but it will mean there will no longer be access for the public to the land.

Nearby residents say they have been able to use the land for 40 years and the school only needs half the site. Campaigners have also disputed the school’s claims that land is “educational land”, insisting that it is “mixed use open space with free public access, with no permitted development rights to change its use or erect a fence without planning permission.

The recommendation to approve would see the council ignore a previous decision for the issue to be debated by all councillors.

In her plea to the key decision makes, former student Ester Goodhand said: “I left Ken Stimson a couple of years ago, having enjoyed my time at the school. I live very close to the school site and the lovely green open space my old teachers now want to fence off.

“I’ve followed the debate about the fence as it rumbled on, first while I was still a student and since I left.

“I listened when the headteacher initially said they needed to fence off two football pitches of land and then it turned out the area they wanted to build on was protected by a special covenant which residents unearthed.

"They shifted their sights to another part of the green space. Then, all of a sudden, the amount of space they ‘needed’ had doubled in size and now, it’s doubled again. With no justification given.

“The irony is that we students have loads of space for P.E. with some excellent facilities – we have several outdoor and indoor courts, the main sports hall, and the gym. We’re really lucky.

“Teachers made no secret of how they felt about local residents who protested the loss of their beautiful open space. They showed them no respect at all and I think that attitude has been evident in the way the school have approached this whole thing.

"Most of the staff don’t live locally so they don’t really care about the local community – they make no effort to be part of it.

“I spent years at Ken Stimpson School so I know, first-hand, the school doesn’t need the amount of space it’s trying to take and fence off.

“Their plans rip the heart out of Werrington’s green space. I’m here to ask my ex-teachers to (please) listen to local people and find a compromise.”

The meeting to decide the future of the fields will take place at the Town Hall on Tuesday at 4pm.