Cabinet councillors have voted to allow every member of the council the chance to debate a long-running issue over the area of land around Ken Stimpson Academy in Werrington to be fenced. 

At a meeting on October 16, Cabinet heard from residents who were both for and against the fencing of the whole school field, known as Area C, as well as representatives from the academy and the Four Cs Academy Trust. 

The last time the matter was discussed was at a joint meeting of the Children and Education and Growth, Resources and Communities Scrutiny Committees on August 2. 

At that meeting, councillors discussed a call-in of a decision made by Cabinet in July which was to fence all the education land (Area C).  

Scrutiny members voted to refer the matter back to Cabinet with the recommendation to consult Full Council and that public consultation takes place.  

At yesterday's meeting, Cabinet voted to rescind the decision made at the meeting in July to fence the whole of Area C and to refer the matter to Full Council for debate as recommended. 

In the meantime, the council will advertise a proposal to fence the whole of Area C, to allow for consultation before any lease of the whole or part of Area C is granted to the academy trust. 

Cabinet members also agreed that further negotiations will take place with the Academy Trust and the Department for Education, with a view to leasing and/or fencing approximately 60 per cent of Area C. 

Speaking at the meeting, council leader, Cllr Dennis Jones, said: “Once again there have been two opposing views expressed, and both arguments are compelling in their own right.

"It is for this reason, I suspect, that previous administrations have ‘’kicked the can down the road’ for as long as they have.  

“One thing that I hope we can all agree on is that this matter has been allowed to rumble on for far too long and it is the students of the academy who continue to be most affected.

"We must, therefore, make a decision as quickly as possible as I am not willing to condemn another generation of children to having no outdoor area, irrespective of the size of land to be demised to the academy. 

“Since the Cabinet meeting in July we have taken even more time to listen to the community and to understand their position, and officers have met once again with the academy trust. 

“We still want to find a compromise, but we also must act in accordance with the law and if this is education land and DfE expects it to remain as such and in use by the school, then that may force our hand. 

“As we have heard, in the past week we have received further correspondence from the DfE, which stresses the importance of the land retaining its educational use designation.

"The letter also states that the size of the school’s playing field area is in keeping with the DfE’s area guidelines for mainstream schools, and that it is reasonable to expect that the land used by the school when it was maintained by the local authority should continue to be available to children at the academy and for the lease to be entered into as soon as possible.  

“This is an important decision for the academy and its pupils and the residents of Werrington, and having listened to today’s debate, I would like to put forward an alternative recommendation to Cabinet today. 

“We remain committed to reaching a decision as quickly as possible so this matter can be brought to a conclusion. 

A special meeting of Full Council is being arranged for November so that the matter can be discussed as soon as possible.