School in fresh bid to erect 2m fence to protect students

A SCHOOL is making a fresh attempt to install a boundary fence which it says is needed to keep pupils safe.

Gillotts School in Henley wants to erect a 2m wire mesh fence, which is almost 40cm shorter than the one it previously proposed.

This was refused planning permission after residents raised concerns that the fence would close off an area known as Gillotts Wood.

South Oxfordshire District Council, the planning authority, said the fence would harm the view, affect wildlife corridors and endanger pedestrians.

Now the secondary school has applied for a certificate of lawful development for the lower fence, which is covered by permitted development rights so doesn’t require full planning permission.

Catharine Darnton, who has been headteacher of the academy since 2007, said: “Our first responsibility as a school is to keep our students and staff safe. A perimeter fence supports this by preventing intruders accessing the site and preventing students leaving the site during the day.

“Our staff work in isolated offices in unlocked multiple buildings after hours with nothing to prevent an intruder reaching them. Our insurer, Risk Protection Arrangement, requires for the minimum standard of crime resilience a continuous perimeter fencing for intruder protection.”

She said the school had provided an arboricultural method statement and preliminary ecological appraisal which demonstrated that the fence could be installed without the loss of any significant trees or priority habitats.

Ms Darnton added: “The council’s ecologist raised no objections to the scheme, stating: ‘Surveys have concluded that impacts on protected species are unlikely’. Gaps under the fence will be installed every 10m to enable badgers and hedgehogs to move freely.

“The imperative remains to keep our students and staff safe at all times.”

Ms Darnton said there had been “numerous” incidents over the years. These included:

• A series of 30 related intruder incidents from April 2016 to October 2017, eight of which involved criminal activity.

• A “serious” incident in October 2019 which led to police involvement and “parental concern” about site safety.

• An attempted break-in out of school hours in November 2019.

•Travellers making repeated incursions on foot during school hours in November 2020.

Ms Darnton said that since October 2022, 79 people had accessed the site without permission during opening hours. These were largely dog walkers on the school playing fields. Other incidents included:

• Lead being stripped off the roof of the science block twice.

•An attempted theft from the garage.

• A stolen scooter being brought on site during the school holidays and the fields being used by dirt bikes.

• People accessing the flat roofs numerous times during the holidays, once resulting in a skylight being broken and the student services area being broken into three times.

The school’s planning consultants, Ridge & Partners, of Theale, says: “The open nature of the site has been a continued cause of concern for many years as it is impossible to stop children leaving the school fields during break time.

“However, the most significant risk and concern is undesirable people entering the site who could interfere with the wellbeing of the children as well as presenting situations whereby site lockdowns must be implemented.

“In addition, the school is unable to stop members of the public entering the site who believe they have a right to use the school as an amenity space.

“While the school understands the desire of the local community to access the land, this does present security issues as well as the unfortunate consequences of dog fouling and litter on what is private land. To delineate boundaries previously, the school has erected timber posts and straining wire fencing.

“However, while visually the least obtrusive option, this was vandalised very quickly, hence it proved ineffective in preventing access.

“In addition, as with any proposed minimalist solution that does not comprise proprietary security fencing, this solution cannot address the safeguarding issues.

“The reduction in the height of the fence panels to 203cm will by default reduce the likelihood of the fence being seen from the rear gardens of the neighbouring properties.

“The new fence will be positioned on the same line as the existing timber post and wire fence along the north boundary. It will be inset from the path and back on to high vegetation and trees which will detract from the top of the new fence.

“In addition to being situated the other side of a path, the fence will be screened by the fences to the rear of the residential gardens, bearing in mind that in a number of locations these also feature trees that will shield visibility.”

Town and district councillor Stefan Gawrysiak is attempting to have the application “called in” meaning it would be decided by the council’s planning committee.

Councillor Gawrysiak, a former deputy headteacher of Gillotts, previously objected on the grounds of the impact to wildlife and wildlife corridors, pedestrian safety and the enclosure of part of Gillotts Wood.