New leases agreed for use of field at Shenley Primary School

The Times has been told new leases have been signed between Hertfordshire County Council and homeowners William Susman and Nikolai Levey, whose properties back onto Shenley Primary School.

This newspaper understands under the new terms, the school will have access to 75 per cent of the land that had been leased by the county council for 20 years.

In June 2020, it emerged that a section of private land at Shenley Primary had been sold in February to Mr Levey and Cllr Susman, the latter of whom is the chairman of Shenley Parish Council.

The sale came to light when contractors began fencing off the newly purchased land in June. This sparked a protest from parents and school governors who marched down to the school on a Saturday and successfully stopped the fence being constructed.

Contractors were putting up a fence line but then work was stopped. Credit: Simon Jacobs

Campaigners at Shenley Primary School, including parents and governors. Credit: Simon Jacobs

Following the protest, talks were held between the county council, the school, Shenley county councillor Morris Bright, Cllr Susman and Mr Levey, and a temporary agreement was reached to allow the school access to all of the land until a more permanent agreement was reached.

After a period of negotiations, the council has this month completed new lease agreements with the land in question at the school.

Cllr Susman, who is married to Shenley ward councillor Natalie Susman, has signed a ten-year lease with the council, with a break clause inserted after five years, allowing the school to use all of the land he purchased, at a peppercorn rent (i.e. nil rent).

He has told the Times there is "no intention" of any development on his new land and that he decided to purchase the land to "protect his boundary" in case the primary school was to relocate in the future, which has been mooted in the Shenley Neighbourhood Plan, published last year.

Mr Levey has also signed a lease with the council but it is understood his agreement gifts back half of the land he bought last year. Mr Levey and Hertfordshire County Council have been approached for further details about this agreement.

Around a third of the school field at Shenley Primary is privately owned. The council had leased it for 20 years

Hertfordshire County Council had leased the section of field at Shenley Primary from the previous owner at a peppercorn rent since 1999 but that lease came to an end in 2019.

The council says it made two offers to buy the land from the private owner, most recently in February 2020, but were told the land had already been sold.

The council would not say how much it offered to buy the land, citing this information as "commercially sensitive".