TAXPAYERS are footing a
£2,000-a-month bill for a security guard so the public can use a footpath
through Arden
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Martin Murphy says Arden
A security guard will
“escort” those who wish to use the footpath, he said.
It says the alternative is a
diverted footpath – but this will cost £100,000.
In 2011, residents applied to
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council (SMBC) to have the footpath officially
recognised.
The council threw out the application
but this was overturned on appeal at the independent Planning Inspectorate.
In a letter to parents, Mr Murphy said: “We believe it is totally inappropriate to have a public footpath
across the site due to our safeguarding duty of care.”
He said the governing body
had carried out “detailed risk assessments” to find a way to re-open the
footpath and keep pupils and staff safe.
Meetings with staff and the
council had not found a solution and the school hired temporary fencing during
the summer holidays for £300 a week to “secure the main school buildings”.
This could not remain as
pupils and staff needed to access buildings and un-named alternative was not
accepted by the council “following further pressure and threats of potential
legal action from local residents” he said.
He said: “Following further
discussions with SMBC we have now agreed to put into operation a managed
solution with a security person opening the gates and escorting those who wish
to use the footpath between 8.45am
and 6pm .”
Mr Murphy wrote: “This, as
you will understand, is at a considerable cost to the school and SMBC who are
supporting us in manning this short term solution (some £2,000 per month).
“This is sadly using up much
needed educational resources.”
Yet he said he is seeking
governing body approval to “reroute the footpath to a suitable location in the
vicinity of the school boundary”. He said: “The estimated cost for a diverted
footpath is approximately £100,000.”
Residents had previously
raised concerns about a diversion, he said.
The council threw out the bid
to have the footpath officially recognised in March 2011 as it said the route had
not been used uninterrupted for 20 years, a key test.
It said available evidence
could also not show that the school intended to allow it to be used a right of
way when it was open, another key test.
The inspectorate said 39
evidence forms from the public with 41 letters said the footpath was used by
the public
Inspector Barney Grimshaw said these show “enough use by the public throughout both the period from
1980-2000 and from 1988-2008 to raise the presumption that the route had been
dedicated as a public footpath”.
He added: “The current head
of the school has stated that she has never seen anyone use the route during
the seven years that she has been head.
“She also stated that the
caretaker and other staff had reported to her that people have been seen
walking through the school site but that on each occasion they have been
challenged and have left the site.”
The chair of governors said
in a letter in 2008 that “I quite accept that passage through the grounds has
taken place for many years” and acting head Patti West said in a 2007 email
that
“there is a public footpath
from Milverton
Road
He found: “There is no
incontrovertible evidence that the claimed footpath cannot reasonably be
alleged to subsist and I therefore find that the existence of a public footpath
on the claimed route has been reasonably alleged.”
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