Peterborough City Council plans to fence off entirety of Werrington Fields

Peterborough City Council (PCC) currently plans to fence off the entirety of Werrington Fields, it has confirmed.

The fields have historically been used by both local residents and a local community school which, alongside the council, wanted to fence off a smaller section for continued use as playing fields during term time.

But having now been told that they can’t do this by the Government, PCC says it intends to fence off the entirety of the fields to ensure the safeguarding of the Ken Stimpson Community School pupils who play there.

Councillors were told this week at a PCC meeting that they will be given more information about the plans shortly, while campaigners who sought to keep the fields entirely open to the public will also be kept informed.

This update is expected to include information about where exactly the fence will be and who will be able to access the fields and when.

The row over Werrington Fields began in 2019, when PCC first proposed fencing off part of them for use by the school during term time after “a series of incidents of antisocial and threatening behaviour” impacting pupils including “young adults who were drunk and disorderly” disrupting the school’s sports day.

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 designated public open space.

As a result, PCC 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 use by the school.

In order to do this, it applied to the Secretary of State for permission – but this was refused.

When it submitted its application, the council stated on its website that: “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”.