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School playing fields out of bounds to pupils for eight months
PLAYING fields designed as a key part of a new inner city primary school have been out of bounds for eight months.
The fields at Meadowfields Primary School in Halton Moor have been barred to pupils after consultants branded them unsafe.
Mike Shaw, chairman of governors, fears it could be many more months before they are back in use.
He said problems emerged soon after the new school on Halton Moor Avenue opened in November 2005.
Mr Shaw said: "They were uneven and rutted and clearly unsatisfactory. Education Leeds promised to get an independent report but nothing happened."
The governors commissioned their own report. Mr Shaw said: "We received it last October and it condemned the playing fields as unfit and unsafe. We decided we had little choice but to declare the playing fields out of bounds. There is very little top soil and not enough grass cover."
Mr Shaw said that about 50,000 needed to be spent to make the space usable. He said: "This is a vast waste of public money and a neglect of the children's needs.
"There is simply not enough space on our hard-surfaced playground. The children need somewhere to run around and let off steam.
"It could be next spring before the fields will be back in use."
A council spokesman said: "We agree that the playing fields are not satisfactory and are working with the school to resolve the problems as soon as possible. A tender is going out to have the playing fields relevelled and returfed in time for the new school year in September."
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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