Background information
In recent years, Ken Stimpson Academy in Werrington has become increasingly concerned over safeguarding risks to pupils. This is following incidents of anti-social and threatening behaviour which have taken place on the site concerned.
As a local education authority, we have a duty to ensure that we address any safeguarding concerns expressed by schools within our area. To help reduce risks to pupils and staff at Ken Stimpson Academy, we are progressing plans to install a fence around the school playing fields.
By erecting a fence, this will help ensure that students at Ken Stimpson Academy are not disadvantaged in any way and are able to enjoy an outdoor curriculum with the associated health and wellbeing benefits in a safe and secure environment.
Application to the Secretary of State for a Section 77 consent
Section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 concerns disposal or change of use of school playing fields, with decisions to approve or reject requests for consent determined by the Secretary of State for Education.
Following the safeguarding concerns, and after consultation with residents about fencing the land, we applied to the Secretary of State for a Section 77 consent.
Our application was in relation to an area of land forming part of the school playing fields at Ken Stimpson Academy and known locally as 'Werrington Fields'. We sought consent to reduce the area available for the school's use by leaving a section of it unfenced, formally appropriating this as public open space.
In November 2023, the Secretary of State confirmed that they did not consent to the reduction in size of the school playing field to appropriate part of it as open space.
The rejection letter states “The department has a clear policy presumption against the loss of school land. That presumption is particularly strong in the case of land that is classed as playing field. The Secretary of State seeks normally to act in accordance with that policy but is prepared to consider departing from it where exceptional circumstances provide a good reason to justify doing so.
The benefits to the school (or other schools in the area) should outweigh the strong presumption against the loss of playing field land. In this instance, the large loss of playing field land without mitigation to counter such loss, means that the benefits to the school do not outweigh the presumption against the loss of the land, and there are no exceptional circumstances which provide a reason to depart from the policy.”
As a result, the entire area of open space designated as education land remains as such.
Recommendations to Cabinet - July 2024
At a meeting on Tuesday 16 July 2024, Cabinet Members were asked to consider a number of recommendations in relation to the playing fields.
View the Cabinet Agenda for 16 July 2024 on the Democracy Peterborough website.
The recommendations were to:
- Approve the area of land to be demised to Ken Stimpson Academy (whole of Area C).
- Agree to the request from Ken Stimpson Academy for the council to erect a fence around all of the area of land in Area C. This is to support the academy's safeguarding requirements and to enable it to deliver its outdoor education curriculum.
- Agree for the council to pay for the costs associated with the supply and installation of the fence.
- Approve that the council enters into a Community Use Agreement with the academy to enable continued community use of the playing fields outside of school hours.
The Cabinet agreed to the recommendations but with a change to one in relation to payment of the costs for supplying and installing the fence. We have reached an agreement with Ken Stimpson Academy where they will pay for half the costs and we'll pay the other half.
Call-in request
The decision made by the Cabinet on 16 July 2024 has now been 'called-in'.
A 'call-in' is a key element of the scrutiny function. It relates to the rights of councillors to call-in for examination an executive decision that has been made but not yet implemented.
Three councillors must sign a call-in request. Councillors John Fox, Sarah Hillier and Christian Hogg made the request. Our Director for Legal and Governance and Monitoring Officer Neil McArthur has decided that the request is valid.
The call-in request will now go before a joint meeting of the Children and Education Scrutiny Committee and the Growth, Resources and Communities Scrutiny Committee on Friday 2 August 2024 at 10am at Peterborough Town Hall.
At this joint meeting, the two scrutiny committees will consider the call-in request and the reasons for it. They may decide one of the following options:
- Take no further action - in which case the decision stands
- Refer the decision back to Cabinet for reconsideration
- Consider the decision is outside of our Budget and Policy Framework and refer the matter to Full Council
Residents are welcome to attend the meeting and we will live stream it on our YouTube channel.
Site plan
Planning permission, payment and community access
Planning permission
Under current national legislation, we do not require planning permission to erect a fence under two metres in height, which the fence will be.
Payment for the fence
Please see sections above for the latest information.
Community access
Under a proposed Community Use Agreement for the site, members of the public will still be able to access the land at certain times.
We are fully aware of residents' concerns regarding the loss of what they feel is a community amenity. By looking to establish a Community Use Agreement, we hope that this can serve as a compromise. It would enable the site to be used both by the school and local residents.
We will publish further details in due course.
