Fenced-off pupils back at school

Pupils were fenced out of their playground

Powys pupils kept out of school by a giant steel fence are due to return to class after the barrier was removed.

Caersws Primary School was closed for two days this week after a developer erected the 350ft-long landing, arguing he owned the land beneath.

It prevented 135 children getting to class, prompting Powys' local authority to seek a court order forcing the fence's removal from their playground.

A Cardiff judge on Tuesday ruled it should be dismantled and the school is due to re-open.

Protests

The saga began on Saturday when Griff Beynon-Thomas put up the 7ft-high fence, cutting through the middle of the school playground.

Mr Beynon-Thomas was in a dispute with the council

He claimed he owned some of the land on which the school was built 20 years ago.

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

But the following day it emerged the land was sold to Powys' council by the then Welsh Secretary in 1983.

The transfer was never registered and, in 1999, part of the land was sold to Mr Thomas by the Welsh assembly, unaware it in fact belonged to the local authority.

'Delighted'

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."