Council responds to claims it banned footballs at school for being too noisy

Sefton Council has responded to claims it banned the use of leather footballs at a local school following a series of noise complaints from local residents.

The Merseyside local authority is said to have used its powers to impose a Community Protection Notice (CPN) meaning the pupils could only use flyway or foam footballs instead.

The Manifesto Club reported the Council “issued an order banning children from using leather footballs in the playground” after issuing Freedom of Information requests to a number local authorities about their use of CPNs.

The news hit the national media, however, Sefton Council says this claim was ‘erroneously’ reported and that ‘temporary restrictions, including the change of footballs’ had been lifted.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the local authority said: “In 2020 Sefton Council was approached by a number of residents who live close to a privately operated school within the borough. The residents raised a large number of noise and anti-social behaviour complaints against pupils of the school.

“The local authority’s Anti-Social Behaviour teams investigated these complaints and ultimately issued a Community Protection Notice, which sought to encourage the school to address the concerns of residents.

“The school’s operators were fully supportive and cooperative with Sefton Council and immediately took steps to install measures to reduce the level of disturbance for surrounding homes.

“While awaiting the installation of these measures, a number of temporary restrictions were imposed. This included, but was not limited to, the temporary measure of swapping out cowhide or vulcanised rubber footballs for foam footballs.

“Once the permanent noise-reduction measures were installed, all temporary restrictions, including the change of footballs, were lifted.”

They added that the restrictions were in place for less than six months and that “the school and its operators were fully cooperative”.

Campaign group, the Manifesto Club, is challenging what it calls “the hyper-regulation of public spaces” and argues that the majority of CPNs are ‘unnecessary’.