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Leeds: School wants 8ft fence to stop intruders

Google Guiesley School playing fieldsGoogle
Quadbikes regularly churn up the school football pitches, leaving them unusable for several days, a report said

A West Yorkshire school wants to build an 8ft high (2.4m) fence to stop intruders taking photographs of pupils.

Intruders have repeatedly entered the grounds of Guiseley School in Leeds to take photos of students, a report revealed.

The school said trespass incidents had included one which saw two men try to get to pupils on a sports day.

Permission to build the fence is recommended for approval at a council planning meeting later.

The school's playing fields border Bradford Road, where only a dry stone wall and a small gate separate them from the road, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

School bosses said: "Having no fencing around the playing fields means the potential for intruders to access the site is a real risk the school has to mitigate against on a daily basis.

"This is not an unrealised concern. A number of intruder issues have taken place over the last three years."

Google Guiesley School entranceGoogle
A statement from the school said dog owners had become aggressive with staff after being asked to put their pets on leads and remove them from the school playing fields

A report to the council listed incidents at the site which included adult males attempting to gain access to students at a sports day in 2020.

Other examples included male trespassers photographing students in 2021 and men taking pictures of pupils at a Healthy Holidays Club, before sharing them on social media in 2022.

The school also said pupils had been injured during PE lessons by shattered glass and drinks cans on the fields and that dog mess was an "increasing" problem.

'Unsightly, oppressive and overbearing'

A spokesperson for the school said dogs were also regularly let loose on the fields and the danger that posed to students in terms of possible attacks was obvious.

"Owners fail to see the issue when we ask them to both put their dog on a lead and remove them from the playing fields," they said.

A total of 26 people have objected to the plans for the fence, with some arguing the land has been "used by the community for decades", according to the report.

Others have argued the fencing would be "unsightly", "oppressive" and "overbearing".

However, council officers have recommended that planning permission is granted when councillors meet to discuss it later.

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