Peterborough Council to decide whether to fight back against school’s legal challenge over Werrington Fields

The dispute between Werrington residents and the Four Cs Academy Trust, which runs the Ken Stimpson school, has been ongoing for several years, with both sides unable to reach a compromise on the land.

In March, Peterborough city councillors agreed to lease a section of Werrington Fields (Area C1) to the Ken Stimpson Academy, albeit a smaller section than the school’s academy trust said it would accept.

After an exchange of pre-action correspondence, the academy trust filed a judicial review claim with the Administrative Court in July, claiming the authority’s decision to split the land named Area C into C1 and C2 was ‘unlawful’.

On September 23, the Administrative Court granted the academy trust permission to pursue the claim and instructed the council to file and serve its detailed grounds for contesting the claim and any written evidence by October 29.

The city council’s cabinet members will meet on October 14 to consider the options available and decide which one the authority should pursue.

These options include either defending the judicial review claim, trying to settle the claim, or conceding the claim.

A council cabinet report states that the costs of defending the case are estimated to be £100,000, but even if the council was to win the case, the Academy Trust would still not be legally obliged to accept the offer of a lease on the council’s terms.

Losing the case would also result in the council being liable to pay the academy trust’s costs, which are estimated at between £100,000 and £200,000, in addition to its own.

“Win or lose, there would be certainty about the legal position and, hopefully, a degree of closure to what has been a contentious and protracted issue,” the report adds.

Conceding the claim would mean that the council had to offer to lease all of Werrington Fields (Area C) to the academy trust, but local residents group Save Werrington Fields could then seek to object to the council conceding the claim and force a hearing anyway.

The fields have been used by both the public and the school for decades, but the school now wishes to fence off the area due to concerns over safeguarding risks to pupils.

All parties are in dispute over the use of the land, with the trust claiming it to be educational while residents say it is mixed use open space.

The council claims that the loss of some or all of Werrington Fields may have an adverse effect on the health and well-being of regular users of the land for public recreation.

Werrington ward councillors were reportedly “disappointed” that the academy trust did not accept the council’s terms and thought the council should defend the claim.

A spokesperson for Save Werrington Fields previously said: “This decision by Four Cs to seek a judicial review is likely to drag this sad saga on further, for months, even years in litigation.

“We are very sad for the young people at Ken Stimpson, many of whom are family members and neighbours.”

The Four Cs Academy Trust has been approached for comment.