Fresh dispute emerges over CCTV installation at Bristol playing field
Cotham School has reignited controversy with its attempt to install CCTV at Stoke Lodge
A fresh row has ignited after a Bristol school launched a second bid to install eight tall CCTV poles at a disputed playing field.
Cotham School was refused permission in January by a planning inspector for the 6m-high surveillance equipment at Stoke Lodge playing fields.
The government official ruled that they would be unsightly, cause harm to the Grade II-listed building and its setting, and invade neighbours’ privacy.
The school has now submitted a revised application to Bristol City Council, moving one camera further away from Stoke Lodge and adding privacy screens to the poles’ housing to prevent any potential snooping into nearby homes and gardens.
But campaigners who want to keep the fields open as public footpaths have already lodged objections.
Public rights of way and greens committee chair and ward Cllr John Goulandris (Conservative, Stoke Bishop) wrote: “The application fails to take into account its impact on the four public rights of way across the application site, which have been approved by Bristol City Council.
“This ‘new’ application fails to address in any meaningful manner the reasons for refusal.
“The changes to this application are merely cosmetic.
“One of the poles is reduced in height from six metres to five metres, but this application also shows the cameras on top of the poles, adding over half a metre to the height of each pole, thus making the poles even more visible and harmful to the heritage assets.
“The cumulative visual impact of eight tall poles/concrete bases and associated furniture would inevitably destroy the tranquillity of the open space environment of the parkland.”
In its application, Cotham School said CCTV was needed to safeguard pupils and deter further vandalism of the fence it controversially put up around the site to keep people out.
But Cllr Goulandris said: “There are already six cameras on the sports pavilion and associated buildings.
“This provides good visibility of most of the site and certainly the part of the site (the top field) generally used by the school.
“In any event, it is important to remember that school pupils are brought to the site by coach in relatively small numbers, closely supervised at all times by school staff.
“Once the PE session has finished, the pupils immediately return by coach to Cotham School’s main site (some three miles away).
“Pupils are not left unattended at any time.
“What is absolutely clear is that the proposed eight camera poles are not needed to ensure the safety of school pupils using the site for sports lessons.”
Last year, a high court judge overturned a city council decision to grant the land status as a town or village green and that it should instead be legally classed as a school playing field for education purposes.
But in November 2024, just over a month before that ruling, the council committee confirmed four public rights of way across the area, which Cotham School has challenged.
That will be decided at a two-week public inquiry this October.
In its planning application, the school said the court judgement confirmed the fields were lawfully education land and ‘not a public park’, so they were not compatible with public recreational rights.
It said: “As the lawful use is educational, the school is required to provide a safe and adequately supervised environment, including safeguarding arrangements equivalent to those on the main school site.
“The CCTV installation is therefore an ancillary operational requirement directly supporting the lawful use of the land.”
The school said the proposed new layout of the poles reduced the visual and heritage harm cited in the planning inspector’s January report.
It said: “Physical privacy screens will be attached to the relevant camera housings, providing a fixed, non‑removable barrier that prevents any potential view toward neighbouring gardens or habitable rooms.
“It is concluded that there is an evidenced and absolute need for Cotham School’s proposed CCTV installation.
“Since the installation of the sports ground boundary fence in 2019, there has been extensive damage to the perimeter fence with the majority of panels being removed, leaving the fields open and accessible to anyone who seeks access to the fields or students.
“The school has sought the support of the police, who have advised the installation of CCTV to provide better surveillance of the fields and to deter vandalism.
“The proposed cameras are compact and unobtrusive in form and appearance.
“They will not interrupt or detract from established long-distance views of the listed building to any greater extent than other existing utilitarian features in the vicinity, such as floodlighting, street lighting or typical residential paraphernalia that already form part of the site’s wider visual context.
“The proposed scheme is found to result in no harm to the designated heritage asset and offers identifiable public benefits in terms of improved security.”