News / Stoke Lodge
Councillors vote against forcing school to open gates of controversial fence
Councillors have voted against forcing a Bristol school to open gates in a controversial fence around a disputed playing field.
In the latest twist of the long-running saga of Stoke Lodge, councillors were warned that taking enforcement action could result in a costly legal challenge.
In October 2024, the public rights of way and greens committee at Bristol City Council decided not to force Cotham School to keep open footpaths over Stoke Lodge playing fields.
The local community celebrated in 2024 when footpaths crossing Stoke Lodge were formally recognised by Bristol City Council – photo: We Love Stoke Lodge
Although the committee voted to officially declare these footpaths as public rights of way, that was not the end of the drawn-out legal process. A public inquiry is due to be held about them towards the end of 2026.
In 2024, the committee were told that gates in the fence were open to members of the public when the school wasn’t using the fields.
However, now the gates are locked permanently during term time, although they were unlocked during the Easter school holidays.
For a few councillors on the committee, this changed matters enough to revisit taking enforcement.
So when the public rights of way and greens committee met on Thursday they attempted to move a motion, which would instruct council staff to order the school to open the gates.
But a legal officer issued a strict warning, before they voted, that this would both take up a lot of time and effort for council staff, and probably result in another expensive judicial review.
A mile-long fence returned to Stoke Lodge after Cotham School was granted permission to put it back in a Bristol City Council meeting in September 2025 – photo: Martin Booth
Green councillor Ed Fraser said: “At the time I was supportive of the enforcement of rights of way. I think the actions that have taken place since then have only reaffirmed that point of view.”
Legal advice previously suggested that the public rights of way have not actually been formally adopted yet.
Any enforcement action would likely face a legal challenge, because the school is disputing that the footpaths are indeed public rights of way. So until the upcoming public inquiry and subsequent confirmation, the council would struggle to defend enforcement in front of a judge.
That means for the time being, access to the fields remains blocked during term time.
In other developments, We Love Stoke Lodge campaigners said that children have been spotted climbing over the fence, creating a risk that a child could get seriously injured due to spikes on top of the fence posts. Mysterious bags of fake dog poo had also been left next to the fence in early April.
One campaigner Alan Preece said: “That fence is spiky at the top. At some point, some child is going to slip and perhaps get those spokes through their throat.
“Or maybe lose their finger, like happened at Coombe Dingle many years ago. The school ought to be warned that they would be held responsible if there was that sort of injury.”
Adding to the confusion, which councillors are politically responsible for managing the lease with the school is unclear.
Council staff were asked — as the public rights of way and greens committee does not have responsibility or powers to take action on the school leasing the land — which committee does have the powers? Staff said they did not know and would check.
The strategy and resources policy committee would likely be the group of councillors responsible for the lease. Campaigners were suggested to focus their efforts there too.
Fake poo bags were discovered at the green space in early April – photo: We Love Stoke Lodge
In the meantime, Cotham School defended their fence and said the campaign must come to an end. They pledged to work together with the community, which led to campaigners guffawing.
Sandra Fryer, chair of governors for the school, said: “The fields are open and they have been open since Friday and dog walkers are back.
“We were delighted at the school to return to using the school playing fields. It’s brilliant to see young people there enjoying the fields, exercising and learning.
“We deeply regret the ongoing continued removal of fence panels, the criminal damage to our property, and the ongoing challenge of people walking on our fields and refusing to leave when staff arrive at the start of the school day.
“We even had somebody filming our students and a member of staff, and they refused to go away. The fields are vital to the school.”
The school also applied for planning permission to put up several tall metal poles, with CCTV cameras on top, but permission was refused. The school is now preparing another planning application instead. There are also mobile CCTV cameras dotted around the fields already.
The 22-acre site was leased to the school in 2011. A fence was put up, then taken down, and then put back up again.
This angered residents, who say they have been able to access the fields since at least the 1930s, until the school stopped them. The school says the fence is needed to keep pupils safe. The bitter dispute over the fence has rumbled on for many years.
The government’s planning inspectorate is due to hold a public inquiry about whether the footpaths should be legally registered as public rights of way in October.
Main photo: We Love Stoke Lodge
Read next:
Our newsletters emailed directly to you
