An eight foot fence is to be put up around a school playground to keep yobs at bay – if the plan is passed by Bradford Council.

Costing £38,000, it will help protect the play area and its new equipment at Our Lady of Victories School in Guardhouse Road, Keighley.

Staff have had to resort to the action after the area has been targeted by vandals who have deliberately soiled some of the equipment with human waste.

The intruders have been able to climb over the lower fence, which has been there many years, and daub some of the apparatus with graffiti.

The school has recently spent £40,000 on re-equipping the play area, including a pirate ship – a big favourite with the children.

Headteacher John Devlin, said: “The broad aim is to protect the children at playtimes – that’s a period when they are most vulnerable.

“And we also need to protect the play equipment. We have spent £40,000 on it and the children love it, especially the ship.

“We’ve had a number of instances, to put it bluntly, of people defecating in it. It’s very bad, and an offensive thing for our caretakers to have to tackle.”

Occasionally, intruders had also left behind drug paraphernalia so it was important to secure the area.

The old fence had been up many years and was also in a poor state of repair, with rust and flaking paint.

The fence would join up with the higher fence which was put up around the the school a few years ago.

“As well as acting as a means of security, it would also improve the environment around the school,” said Mr Devlin A planning application had been submitted to Bradford Council and the bulk of the cost was being met by Government funding.