Parent Power Wins Victory as Southern Electric Promises New Fence

6.20.42pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 12th Nov 2004

Parent Power Wins Victory

Parent power has won the day after a petition signed by most of the parents at Shakespeare junior school has succeeded where many previous letters of complaint had failed.

Southern Electricity has finally promised to re-fence and renew the sub-station in St Catherine's Road, Eastleigh that many worried parents believe to be a hazard for children. The substation is next to the grounds of Shakespeare junior school.

The petition, which was organised by local Liberal Democrat campaigners Chris Huhne MEP and Cllr Chris Thomas, was sent to the electricity company's headquarters last month. Now the boss has promised swift action.

In a letter to Chris Huhne MEP, who is the Liberal Democrats' prospective parliamentary candidate for Eastleigh, the chief executive of Scottish and Southern Energy, which owns Southern Electric, promises a new higher and safer fence.

He says that the company will "refence the sub-station in 1.8 metre high palisade and increase its area sufficiently to allow for the subsequent installation of a unit sub-station so the current transformer can be decommissioned and removed. The new fencing will improve visibility into the sub-station and this work should be completed within the next four to six weeks".

Mr Huhne said that the sub-station had been a source of concern to parents at the school for a long time because of the way some children were able to gain access over relatively low fencing, and the damage to the fencing. "This promise of action from the electricity company is very good news. The sooner work begins on state of the art fencing the better".

The electricity company will refence the sub-station in open fencing so that people will be able to see anyone who has gained access. Mr Marchant explains that the reason for this type of fencing stems from the death of two young children in a sub-station in 1985 at Selston who received serious burns from interfering with the switchgear.

Mr Huhne said: "At present, children can easily gain access to the main area around the steel box and happily ignore the warning signs saying high voltage and danger. Seven year olds don't take much notice of warning signs even if they can read them" said Mr Huhne. "Southern Electricity has had repeated requests from parents to repair the fencing, but so far it has done nothing"

Cllr Chris Thomas, whose children attend the school, said that the broken fencing had been a source of concern for parents for some time but nothing seemed to shake Southern Electricity's complacency. "This is a small job, but I'm pleased that at last Southern Electricity is taking responsibility before there is an accident".