New fence at school to stop students' short cuts

East Sussex County Council is spending some £25,000 installing new fencing and altering parts of the existing barriers around the £40 million school, opened last November, while students are on their summer holidays.

But Glenleigh Park Road Residents’ Association spokesman John Hollands, who has lived overlooking the site since 1972, claims the fencing should have been properly attended to in the first place.

He said: “They put up a 1.8 metre high chain-link fence around part of the school, even though at the planning stage it was strongly recommended by ourselves and others that it should stand much higher.

“Since the school opened, some students have been climbing over the fence as a short cut to wherever they’re going, which is exactly what we predicted would happen.”

An ESCC spokesman said: “We’re not replacing all the perimeter fencing. The majority of the work on-going is to install a completely new fence along the northern edge of the site (Turkey Road) to improve security.

“It’s true a small section of existing 1.8m fencing on the southern side is being replaced with 2.4m fencing. Again, this is in order to improve security.”

Mr Hollands claimed an automatic ventilation system was compromising security because it was opening windows at times when the school was deserted. This is to be investigated.