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River fence decision 'was based on errors'
Senior councillors based their controversial decision to erect fencing at an Otley beauty spot on flawed information about their legal responsibilities, claim objectors.
Work recently started on putting up 1.1m-high safety fencing alongside the River Wharfe in Wharfemeadows Park.
The scheme is opposed by thousands of people in the market town who claim the fencing spoils the park, and is unnecessary and a waste of money.
The Wharfemeadows Action Group (WAG), set up to fight the fencing plan, say a Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA) report presented to Leeds City Council in December 2006 contained errors and resulted in the authority's Executive Board making a flawed decision.
The council's Culture and Leisure Scrutiny Board, a watchdog body, is conducting an investigation into the decision to erect the fencing, installed after ROSPA was commissioned by the council to carry out a water safety review.
The review followed an incident at Waterloo Lake in Roundhay Park, Leeds, when two teenagers drowned.
Tony Hartigan, of WAG, told the scrutiny board that the December 2006 report contained errors and added: "We feel the report presented with item 13 to the Executive Board in February 2007 was seriously flawed.
"It exaggerated the legal consequences and members felt they had to vote in favour of a proposal they were minded to reject. We cannot understand why Wharfemeadows Park was chosen."
Peter Cornall, of ROSPA, strongly defended the recommendation that fences should be put up. He said a further ROSPA report was presented to the council in April 2007 and claimed the December 2006 report "was not the report Leeds City Council finally acted on."
Mr Cornall said the fencing was being installed in an area where there was a dangerous weir and a fast-flowing river going through the middle of a park which attracted many families and toddlers.
He added: "We do not always recommend fences and this decision was not taken lightly. It is there to stop the deliberate or accidental access by children under the age of five. It could also stop accidental access by older children and adults."
The scrutiny board will now consider all the evidence it has heard over a number of sessions and produce a report and recommendations to be presented to the Executive Board.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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