Judge settles school land row

Pupils were fenced out of their playground

A county court judge has ruled that a 7ft steel fence which closed a mid Wales school - must come down.

Caersws Primary School was closed for two days this week after property developer Griff Beynon-Thomas erected the fence, arguing that he owned the land.

It prevented the 135 children getting to class, prompting Powys' local authority to seek a court order forcing the fence to be removed.

But a judge in Cardiff on Tuesday confirmed that the council - not Mr Beynon-Thomas - owned the land, and pupils can return to school on Wednesday.

It transpired that the land was sold to Powys Council by the then Secretary of State in 1983 but the transfer was never registered.

Then in 1999 part of the school and surrounding fields was sold to the Thomases by the National Assembly who were unaware that the land had already been sold.

Tuesday's ruling in Cardiff means the fence must come down immediately.

The saga began on Saturday when Mr Beynon-Thomas put up a fence - which cut through the middle of the school playground. He claimed he owned some of the land on which it was built 20 years ago.

Mr Beynon-Thomas was in a dispute with the council

On Monday morning, around 20 parents and pupils protested outside the school - which the head teacher temporarily closed on safety grounds.

Demonstrators said they had become innocent victims of the row, in which Powys' council claimed instead that it owned the land.

Mr Beynon-Thomas is currently involved in re-developing the site - adjacent to the former Llys Maldwyn psychiatric hospital, which he bought in 1999.

We want our children back in school because they are missing out on their education

Parent

But a council spokesman argued that Powys Council had bought the land where the school now stands from the Welsh Office in the 1980s.

After hearing the news, Powys legal service chief Jeremy Patterson said afterwards: "We are very pleased at the judgement.

"The court has been given an undertaking by Mr Beynon-Thomas to remove the fence and enable the children to go back to school tomorrow.

"The council will now start legal proceedings to ask the courts to rectify the land registration and allow us overriding use of the land."