Students criticise £30,000 gate plan

From the archive, first published Wednesday 9th Oct 2002.

STUDENTS have criticised plans to install "ugly" metal gates at the entrance to an Oxford college.

A group of Trinity College students said they could not believe that planning permission had been granted for 8ft-high security gates and railings outside the porter's lodge in Broad Street.

They said the £30,000 gates -- meant to provide additional security for 150 first-year students -- would ruin the appearance of the college's 450-year-old buildings and grounds.

About 80 members of the Junior Common Room (JCR), the college's student body, voted against the proposals last year before planning permission was sought from Oxford City Council.

They said money would be better spent improving security at student rooms in Woodstock Road, which have been targeted by burglars.

No-one was available to comment on behalf of the college.

Graham Webber, 20, a philosophy and theology student, who lives in Woodstock Road, said: "We can't believe the college has pressed forward with this when students are so against it. "Many of us had gone home for the summer holiday when the planning application was made and were not given the chance to have our say.

"The gates will look ugly and out-of-place in their surroundings."