Head teacher's anger over dangerous footpath
DERBY City Council is refusing to close a footpath across school land where at least 40 incidents have taken place, including four assaults on pupils.
Chris Reynolds, head teacher of St Benedict Catholic School, Darley Abbey, is furious his application to shut the path is set to be rejected by the council's planning control committee on Thursday.
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furious: Chris Reynolds, head teacher at St Benedict School.
It is more than two years since he applied for the closure of the footpath, which runs from Broadway to The Crest across the A38.
He said: "People hang around and are abusive to staff and we have had several serious incidents where pupils have been attacked. We must try to get this footpath closed in case one of our pupils is seriously injured or killed."
But more than 190 people have signed a petition to keep the footpath open because they use it to access local amenities.
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12 Comments
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by Pops, Derby
Tuesday, January 12 2010, 3:43PM
“Instead of closing the path and giving in to silly little boys and girls who can't behave, the schools involved must sort out the children and punish them for their behaviour.
I regularly use the footpath,at times other than school closing, and have never seen any trouble, so I assume the trouble is caused at the end of the school day.
Don't let the behaviour of a few children cause disruption to the majority.
It sounds like the trouble makers are children so treat them as such and remember that the ADULTS ARE IN CHARGE.”
by anon, Derby
Tuesday, January 12 2010, 3:22PM
“My son has used this path and yes has been assaulted on it. Perhaps the headteacher of school children responsible for the attack would like to spend some time at the end of a school day supervising his pupils to make sure they don't attack another child because of the school they attend.
My child now uses an alternative route to avoid them.”
by Winter, Derby
Tuesday, January 12 2010, 2:02PM
“How exactly will the closure of a public footpath change the mentality of the people that are the causing the problems?? It won't and I don't believe it should be closed. Why should ordinary people have to suffer because of a small minority.
(that said, I have never encountered any problems whilst using this route)”
by Phil, Allestree
Tuesday, January 12 2010, 2:00PM
“I wonder if all of those who do not want the path closed would still hold the same opinion if somebody in their family was a victim? I very much doubt it....
I attended this school in the late 80's/early 90's and this pathway always caused problems! there would often be running battles with students from woodlands coming over the bridge from Allestree.
St. Benedict's differs slightly from other schools in that, due to it being catholic it attracts students from a wider catchment area than most. Problems were caused by kids from 'less privelidged' areas taking the opportunity to have a go at the 'posh kids' because it was easy to do so because access to the school was so easy using this footpath.
I'm not saying this is still the case, just highlighting that this is not a new problem.”
by Peter Lockhart, Mickleover
Tuesday, January 12 2010, 1:34PM
“So Darley Abbey has one of the worst council estates in the UK, according to MR of Broadway, probably thinks that is a shameless comment, can't imagine they've travelled very far within the East Mids, never mind the UK.
I would have thought that in 2010, we could utilise CCTV technology better around this footpath, having said that, another attack in Curzon St suggests it's no deterrent anyway!”