Plans to build a fence that will be over 10m tall at its highest point have raised concerns amongst Tidworth residents.

The MOD has submitted plans for the fence around the sports ground on the corner of Pennings Road and St Andrews Road. The fence will surround the ground on the three sides bordered by roads, with the majority of the fencing at 6m high.

However, councillors and residents alike have raised objections to the plans, with the town mayor having asked the plans to be considered by Wiltshire county councillors.

Plans for a new car park and the sports fencing were submitted by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation on behalf of the Secretary of State for Defence to Wiltshire Council on January 11.

Under the plans, an 80 space car park will be built near to the garrison theatre on part of the land currently used as a sports ground. While this part of the plan has not raised concerns, the proposals for a new fence for the ground have.

The proposal is for the sports pitch to be relocated slightly further south, and with a fence to be erected of metal posts with netting between. Behind the goals, it will be 10m high and 20m wide, with the rest of the fence at 6m high.

It will encase the pitch to the north, east and south; all sides which face a road. There will be no fencing to the west, which will remain open to a path.

In their planning documents, the architects behind the scheme, Lambert Smith Hampton, state that the design of the car park and fencing “is functional and is considered to represent ‘good design’ for the purposes of the military in the context of the application site and its surroundings.”

They add that the effect of the current plans will be “progressively modulated” over time, with tree planting and landscape enhancements “assimilating them into their setting”, and so “will not significantly change the quality or character of the local landscape or lead to a loss of visual amenity”.

However, residents disagree, and are concerned that this dark green fencing will become “an unnecessary eyesore.”

Tracey Johnson said: “Whilst I understand having a sports field next to the road can be dangerous, I do not think that there is any real need for this. A widely used rugby field has been on the site for a number of years without one.

“The fence will be encasing the rugby field on 3 sides and limiting access to what is currently a lovely open space for not only residents to use but also for the military to use.”

Questions over its necessity were also raised on social media, with another resident, Dom Collins, saying that a stray ball “is the rarest of incidents” and that the fencing “would look awful”.

Tidworth Town Council, which is based at the community centre across the road, has also criticised the proposal, with councillors objecting “to the fencing being so high.”

They called for a mock-up of what the fence would look like in situ to be provided, with current plans only showing a map of the site.

The mayor of Tidworth, Cllr Mark Connolly, who sits on both the county and town council, has asked for the plans to be called in and considered by Wiltshire Council’s planning committee, rather than by officers.

To have your say on the application, visit Wiltshire Council’s planning site and search with the application number 21/00259/FUL. Consultation on the plans is open until March 4.