A headteacher has claimed pupils' safety will be jeopardised by a decision to allow a new public footpath through sports fields at Heckmondwike Grammar School.

Mark Tweedle says there is already a problem with broken glass, discarded syringes, fouling by dogs and horses, and cars and motorcyclists using the site at Cawley Lane as a "race track".

Only last year the school replaced the fencing around the fields to improve security using Government funding made available following the Dunblane tragedy when 16 children and their teacher were shot dead.

Mr Tweedle says he is surprised at the decision by Kirklees Council's highways and transportation committee because the school submitted evidence to prove the fields had been fenced off since it was formed in 1971.

The school also pointed out it had put up signs warning people there was no right of way and that staff repeatedly asked trespassers to leave the site.

Mr Tweedle said: "The decision to open up a new footpath across the school playing fields seems contrary to Government policy.

"Advice issued by the Government following Dunblane recommended local authorities help schools make their boundaries secure by closing footpaths and rights of way across their grounds.

"Given the strength of these recommendations it seems perverse that the committee appears to have attached little or no weight to evidence submitted by the school."

Councillor David Sheard (Lab, Mirfield), chairman of the highways and transportation committee, said: "We felt there was enough evidence from local residents that footpaths in the areas have been used for many years."

Mr Tweedle said: "The fields are situated some distance away from the main school site and subjected to considerable fouling by dogs and horses exercised in increasing numbers on the playing areas.

"More worrying, hypodermic needles and broken glass have been planted on a number of occasions and the surfaces have been dangerously rutted by motorcyclists and car drivers using the fields as a race track."

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