Werrington Fields fencing paid for with public money before council got planning result

Peterborough City Council bought two metre-high fencing to enclose Werrington Fields before they had received the result of their second planning application which covered a much larger area of the field.

For the last eight months, since January 2022, the fencing, paid for with public money, has been stored at the expense of the taxpayers of Peterborough.

Over the last two years, Save Werrington Fields has been campaigning against Peterborough City Council and Ken Stimpson Community School’s plans to fence off an area of land outside the school, which has had open public access for over 40 years.

The schools are clear that they will not be able to use the unfenced area as a playing field due to safeguarding concerns – but the school have used the land as playing fields for at least the last 10 years.

According to the council, who bought the original fence at a cost of £73,236, the fence is currently being stored at a council-owned property, so there is no cost in terms of storage.

With respect to the purchase and storing of the fencing, a spokesperson for Peterborough City Council said: “Just to clarify on this, the fence in the end cost £44,866.73.

"The figure of £73,236 was the original fencing materials cost plus the installation costs.

"However as it was never installed we were not charged for that part.

"We purchased the required amount of fencing for the original scheme which was subsequently put on hold.

“The purchased fencing has been placed in storage and is available to use for a revised scheme, should this proceed.

“The proposal for the revised scheme requires some additional fencing and gates to be purchased, so all of the existing fencing will be used should it proceed to implementation.”

Peterborough City Council continues to proceed with the project to build a two-metre high fenced area of playing field serving the pupils of Ken Stimpson.

Now that the latest planning application has doubled the size of the area they want to enclose, it would cost considerably more.

The council also spent £24,140 consulting a QC in order to legally establish if they needed to apply for planning permission to change the use of the fields.

Ken Stimpson Community School is due to become an Academy in 2023.

As part of the conversion process, Peterborough City Council are hoping to enter into a 125-year lease with the trust to protect the council’s interest by ensuring that the land and buildings remain in the freehold ownership of the council and would be returned to them when the lease ends.

The fields would be enclosed with the two metre-high fencing at that time, providing restricted use for educational purposes, or for community, fundraising and recreational purposes for educational use.

The outcome of that would be decided by a planning committee decision but at this stage the council has no application.