Parents from Lancaster’s Moorside Primary School have formed a campaign group to mobilise support for plans to protect school grounds from dog dirt and unwanted intrusions.
The Moorside School Grounds Parents’ Group was formed this month by concerned parents who want to lobby county and city councillors, as well as council and government planning officials, to resist attempts to allow unregulated access to the school’s grounds.
Over the next few months the group plan to organise letter writing campaigns, meetings with councillors and also to promote their cause to the community around the school in Newlands, Hala and Bowerham.
“We want to get across that the plans proposed by the school governors to secure land behind the main school building with modest fences are reasonable, proportionate and prudent measures to protect children using the grounds”, said parents’ group’s spokesperson Lucy MacCulloch.
“In October 2008, the Governors of Moorside Primary School received clear legal advice from the Senior Solicitor and Legal Adviser to Schools to secure its grounds,” said Lucy.
“The grounds in question form roughly five of the twenty acres between the school and Barton Road. The school wishes to ensure the safety of the children, prevent dogs roaming on the land, and prevent unidentified members of the public walking through outdoor lessons. We are a group of parents, formed as a result of recent applications by Moorside Fields Community Association, firstly for a Public Footpath across the grounds, and secondly for a Town Green, which would remove the area from the school’s control.”
The school is legally entitled to fence off all five acres: however, on hearing the concerns of the community, has offered a compromise. It would relinquish one acre for permissive use by the community, and re-route the fence so that permissive access could be granted around the boundary, rather than cut right through the grounds of the school.
“If a Town Green Application is successful, the children at the school will no longer have uninhibited access to well-managed outdoor sports and educational facilities” said Lucy. “For any expedition to the fields in question, each child would require signed parental consent. For a school with over 400 pupils, sending them out to play on the grass because the weather’s nice would be pretty complicated.
“In our minds, the school’s compromise offer is more than reasonable,” she argues. “With secure grounds, we can relax in the knowledge that our children – and generations to come – will have the freedom to run, play and learn outdoors within this area of natural beauty. A rich resource indeed. Let’s hope we don’t lose it.”
I fully support the school on this matter. Fenced grounds safeguards the children who attend the school as well as community groups who wish to use the playing fields for organised events. The re-routed right of way suggested by the school made perfect sense. There is an abundance of 'green space' in the surrounding area and the school is planning to fence only a small portion, but with huge benefits for many, many people, for generations to come.
This comment expresses my concerns about the closure (by Moorside School) of a long-established green field space that has been used for many decades by all sections of the community, for recreational and many other purposes..
Whilst every responsible adult has children's safety as a primary concern, if we don't allow our children the freedom to deal with dangerous situations, then are we doing them any favours for when we can't protect them any more. Does allowing children to get dirty playing cause many long lasting injuries?
In an area where building land is at a premium I am left wondering what really is the motive for the erecting of this expensive metal fencing. In the present economic recession is there not a better use for this money, if not by this school, then by other schools with a tighter budget?
The school is only fencing a small part of the green space which is part of the school's grounds. There is over 15 acres of land next to the school grounds which will not be fenced – not counting more open space at Hala, Winchester Avenue, etc, nearby. The school has offered a large section of the school grounds which the opposition group wanted, as well as access across the land. There are very few people using the fields compared to the 400 children at Moorside and very few people in this group making the application, so it seems a selfish attitude to prevent the school from using it safely.
I agree that getting dirty playing is not likely to cause lasting injury – however, dog dirt is a different matter because it can cause serious illness and blindness. I would be very disappointed if the school did not try to protect the children from this. Also the bits the kids want to play in and explore (woodland for dens, etc) will be outside the fence, so they can still do that outside school time. I think the school wants to get the kids out more exploring and having fun, and it's not the mud that's stopping this, but the fact that anyone could be out there, including big dogs, motorbikes, etc, and without a fence the school can't stop them.
As far as building on the land is concerned, I think the land would be much better protected as part of the school's grounds. I can't see the school selling it because then they would lose the fields which they want to use for the children and they wouldn't get the money anyway because they don't own the land.
I don't know how much the fence is costing, but even if it's as much as £20,000 that's only £50 per child – money well spent in my opinion. In the present economic recession such a contract can help to keep a company in business and employees in jobs. Also the money for this sort of thing comes from a different "pot" so the school couldn't spend it on something else. Whatever the cost of the fence, it is bound to be FAR LESS than the cost of a public enquiry and I would rather it went to the blokes putting the fence up than a rich barrister and judge.
There are other groups who could use the fields outside school time if they were clean and safe and I know the school wants more groups to be able to do this.
Moorside School is a fantastic school and the Head and staff are brilliant. The school and its children, not just the ones there now, but all those in the future too, should be supported by the community and the very small number of people in this other group should recognise that they are a minority.
I am pleased that councillors and the local MP are supporting the school and hope that this group will accept the compromise offered and work positively with the school instead of attacking it.