AN attempt by a school to boost its security following a number of high-profile crimes in Abingdon, has been condemned by neighbours who claim it will imprison them in their homes.

John Mason School in Abingdon wants to put up a second boundary fence, which will wrap around retirement flats and back onto neighbouring gardens.

Sarah Brinkley, headteacher at the school, said she was reacting to a fatal stabbing and shooting that have shocked Abingdon in the past year.

She said: "As a head I take that very seriously. I don't believe the children are at risk but I have to make sure we are safeguarding them in my care. It's a prevention to act as a deterrent in this day and age."

But residents in Fleur De Lis flats, who live next door to the secondary school in Wootton Road, are lobbying Vale of White Horse District Council to reject the school's application.

Comments on the application said the planned fence, which would be made of mesh and loom at 2.4 metres, would be "more appropriate surrounding a military or judicial complex" while others remarked that it would make them feel caged-in and like they were living next to a prison or young offenders institution.

Another worried it would create a no-man's-land where rubbish and weeds would be trapped in between the new fence and the old one, which is set to stay.

One resident, who did not want to be named, said: “It’s going to be detrimental and will give a very caged-in and depressing feeling to the properties. It obviously will devalue them. It’s so close to the houses and the fence is almost double the height of the fencing at the moment."

Mrs Brinkley stressed that the plans were not yet final, adding: "We want to remain a community school and not isolate anybody.

"We don't want to make anybody feel penned-in".

Neighbours in nearby Springfield Drive, whose gardens back onto the fencing, were less concerned.

Michelle Barnett, 46, said: “It’s not going to bother us. It will stop kids trying to get into the garden to get their balls back. It’s just going to make the school a bit safer.

“The current fence is really old and is falling apart.”

Last Monday Abingdon Town Council recommended that the district council refused the plans, siding with Fleur De Lis residents who turned out to argue their case.

District councillors are set to decide on the plans by October 28, after consultation ends at the end of August.

The school also hopes to put up a new electronic gate as outlined in a separate application, with both security measures paid for by a recently-awarded government grant worth almost £1m.