Barbed wire fence 'akin to prison'

3:03pm Wednesday 27th August 2008

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RESIDENTS say a barbed wire fence put up around a Pinner railway line has made the area look like a prison.

Ben Foster, 30, of Chapel Lane, came home from a holiday in Hawaii to find a new fence had been put up at the end of his road to stop people getting on to the track.

He said: “We came back to our house thinking ‘isn’t it nice to be home’, but it isn’t. It’s a lovely little place to live and what they’ve put up is just so out of character with the area.

“Our point is not that they’ve put up a fence but that they’ve replaced a harmless-looking, see through one with something more akin to what you would find in a prison.”

He said the value of his Georgian cottage had been affected by the fence, which he believes was put up around ten days ago.

But the impact of Metronet’s move has angered other people in the area as well as Mr Foster.

Cynthia Wells, of the Pinner Association, has been campaigning to raise money to restore West House, in nearby Pinner Memorial Park, and says the fence spoils the entrance.

She said: “It’s not a very nice thing to see if you are going into the park. I think it would be more acceptable if it was painted a dull colour, but I think the barbed wire is unacceptable.”

She added: “We understand that it will line much of the embankment in future. If so, a train journey will be like a ride through a prison camp.

“As one of the affected house owners says, he is just waiting for the watch towers and the guards with rifles.”

The fence surrounds part of the track, on the Metropolitan Line, but is run by Metronet rather than Transport for London.

Jodie Barrington, a spokesman for Metronet, said: “London Underground operational boundary fencing is designed to deter unauthorised entry onto LU infrastructure and replaces the old fencing which had become damaged.

“The fencing has been erected in accordance with strict LU standards to prevent damage and vandalism to LU assets."