‘Don’t use allotments as shortcut, children’

THE gates at the Woodclyffe allotments in Wargrave could be locked for an hour in the afternoon to prevent schoolchildren using it as a shortcut.

The move is being considered by the parish council following complaints that youngsters were cutting through the site off Victoria Road on their way to the recreation ground or home after school.

Councillor Marion Pope said: “We’ve had problems recently with youngsters coming through there to get to the recreation ground or people’s houses.

“They shouldn’t be up there on their own and it’s not a right of way.

“It’s a health and safety issue as much as anything. — someone could hurt themselves or be with someone who shouldn’t be there.”

Cllr Pope said she would also ask to speak to pupils at Robert Piggott Junior School in School Hill.

Parish clerk Stephen Hedges said there were signs at the allotments warning people not to use it as a shortcut but these were often ignored.

He said: “We could look at locking the gates between 3pm and 4pm, which is when we get the most problems. Signs tend not to get read.”

In 2016, the parish council wrote to all households bordering the allotments warning them not to use the site as a cut-through after a fence panel on the site was broken.

The council believed the culprit was someone trying to climb over it.