APPLEBY’S schools should close during the annual horse fair to cut the risk of harm to children, a public meeting heard.

Parents and councillors called for the closure of the town’s primary and grammar school as a safety measure during the gypsy and traveller gathering.

The call follows the deploy-ment by the police of a school bus, packed with pupils from both schools, as a ‘barricade’ on Battlebarrow to help halt a car involved in a police pursuit.

And some of the 200 residents who attended the post fair meeting at the town’s Moot Hall on Monday felt that children should not have to ‘run the gauntlet’ of walking past horses.

Coun Jeffrey Evans of Warcop Parish Council said: “It’s simple, there is no school bus if there is no school sitting. Sometimes the school is closed before it falls within half-term week but this year, and next year, it doesn’t.”

And one mother-of-three, who lives on Romany Way, told how she did not feel safe letting her children play on a grass outside her house because it was being used as a toilet and for parking.

“This is where we live, we don’t want to move, we are settled here and have no problems when the horse fair isn’t on,” she said. “Walking to the primary school on Thursday and Friday is not safe. I don’t want my children walking behind horses.”

A resident of Long Marton Road, Appleby, added: “When we have to go to the shops, to school, to work, we shouldn’t have to put up with the horses.

“The school shuts if it is icy, if it is snowing or if there is a chance of flooding – this gauntlet is just as dangerous.”

But a teacher from Appleby Grammar School said shutting the school would not be possible.

“The pupils are in the middle of their GCSEs and this would have major implications,” she said. “Exams cannot be changed.”

Robin Hooper, chief executive of the Multi Agency Strategic Coordinating Group (MASCG), called for residents across the Eden area to suggest ways to improve the fair next year.

“It is important we continue to learn and improve the quality of life of residents, before, during and after the fair,” he said.

One suggestion was to find a dedicated site for travellers to camp at before heading into Appleby for the weekend.