A FENCE is being built around three Larkfield schools to keep troublemakers off their grounds out of school hours. Brookfield Junior School, Brookfield Infant School and Lunsford Primary School - which all share the same site on Swallow Road - clubbed together for the two-metre high fence because of regular minor vandalism on school property.

The fence will cost £23,000 and will be jointly funded by the three schools and the Local Education Authority, Kent County Council. Planning permission is not needed for the fence, but an application has been submitted to the county council to give residents in the area a chance to comment on the plans before they go ahead.

The green-painted fence will be masked by shrubs. No fence will be built behind houses on Goldfinch Close, Eagle Close and Plover Road, which border the schools' fields.

County council spokeswoman Sara Howe said: "There have been a few incidents at the school, but they are generally just teenagers going onto the grounds at night because it is all open. The schools decided to put up the fence for the safety of the children."