Village leaders have won permission to install security gates at a car park to prevent late-night “unauthorised vehicular access” and anti-social behaviour.

Hart Parish Council can now progress its plans to install gates to enclose a car park in the village near Hart Primary School.

A planning statement from the parish council said the car park is used by the school for overspill parking during normal working hours as well as being used for general visitor parking.

Although the parish council did not object to the car park’s current use, it said it needed to be controlled outside of working hours.

placeholder image — The entrance to Hart Primary School.

Among its concerns were protecting the historic Brus Wall against potential damage.

The planning statement said the plan would ensure that the use of the car park, which sits upon the historic foundations of the Manor House, is controlled and would “make a contribution to and preserve the local character and distinctiveness of the site”.

Hartlepool Borough Council has now approved the plans, which were amended following initial concerns raised by Historic England.

Final plans include a timber five-bar gate with “heavy duty retaining gravity gate stops and associated boulders to either side of the gate”, along with an “access gap” for pushchairs and wheelchairs.

Council planners said the development would not have a “significant impact” on the site due to its “limited scale, appropriate positioning and sympathetic appearance”.

The planning statement from the parish council stressed the development would “protect the area from unauthorised vehicular access”, describing it as “a particular issue outside of the normal working hours”.

It goes on: “Unauthorised parking encourages anti-social behaviour and vandalism particularly with its close proximity to the Cemetery and St Mary Magdalene Church.

“It is also the site of a scheduled ancient monument – the Brus Wall - and there is therefore a risk of damage to the historic fabric of the site potentially with a significant risk to the historic walls which enclose the site.”

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