Residents object to football club fence, likening it to a ‘prison’

Residents living near a playing field have expressed opposition to plans for a new fence, asserting it would make the area “feel like a prison”. The committee managing the King George V Field in Caister-on-Sea, home to Caister Football Club, seeks to erect a 4.2m (13.8ft) high fence situated behind one of the goal areas. Its intended purpose is to prevent balls from entering adjacent gardens. A report prepared for Great Yarmouth Borough Council’s development committee recommends that councillors approve the proposal. However, six neighbours have lodged objections, with one characterizing the design as “more suited to a security setting”. Other residents stated that the fence would obstruct their views of the playing field and be an “eyesore”, while two specifically wrote that it would cause their homes to “feel like a prison”. Planning documents describe the fence as being 45m (147.6ft) long and composed of green panel fencing. In a communication to the council’s planning department, Russell Ray, Chairman of Caister Playing Field Committee, indicated that the club had secured funding for the fence from the Football Foundation. A report for councillors acknowledges that the fence will have “visual impacts” for neighbours overlooking the playing field, but argues that it “would improve the facilities within the playing field to the benefit of the whole community”. The report for councillors advised them to approve the plan during their meeting scheduled for Wednesday.