‘Don’t fence in new school'

11:12am Tuesday 27th February 2007

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BURNLEY'S Towneley Park will be further damaged if a six foot fence is built around a new school earmarked for the site, protesters fear.

Lancashire County Council has announced the proposed new Unity College could have to be fenced in so that funding for the new school is secured.

The new building, part of the £250million Building Schools for the Future programme, is set to be built on Lower Towneley playing fields.

Protesters have already objected to the new school claiming it will damage the park and increase the risk of flooding.

Now it has been revealed a fence could have to be built to meet insurance and safety requirements from private firms lending the cash to fund the school.

Campaigners, who are waiting to see if there will be a public inquiry into the location of the new school, have hit out at the plans claiming Unity College will be a 'prison'.

Ian Galbraith, secretary of campaign group Towneley for the People said the county council's planning committee was not told about the fence when it passed the scheme.

He said: "They are going to surround the entire school with this fence and it will be like a prison.

"When one of the things we have been fighting for is the impact the school would have on views, for them not to tell anybody what they were planning makes a mockery of Lancashire County Council's planning regulations."

If approved the existing school, operating from the former Towneley High building, will be demolished and turned into parkland.

A spokesman for LCC said residents were informed about the fence at an open evening last week.