AN UNHOLY row has broken out over plans to alter historic church gates in Kirkby Lonsdale over child safety fears.

The iconic Grade II listed structure with its ornate ironwork and unusual closing mechanism has been declared a potential danger to young children.

But a planning application to reconfigure the iconic Church Street feature has been met with a chorus of disapproval by locals.

A safety issue with the closing mechanism was raised by a visiting doctor who claimed the rise and fall design of the system could seriously injure a child’s hand if it became trapped.

Now a risk assessment has prompted St Mary’s District Church Committee to submit a planning application to South Lakeland District Council (SLDC), which seeks permission to have the swinging mechanism raised out of a child’s reach.

However, the move has prompted objections from locals who say there is no evidence that any child has ever been injured by the 190-year-old gates, which underwent extensive repair and restoration in 2009 at a cost of £11,068.

In one response, Rachel Crossley, who was raised in Kirkby Lonsdale from the age of 18 months, said: “I have never known anyone to be injured by the rise and fall mechanism of these gates.”

And Tom Wynne wrote: “I have lived in Kirkby Lonsdale most of my life and never known any injuries.”

Another local, Dawn Barry, said the gates had ‘a proven safety record and are part of our town’s history’, adding: “It is unnecessary to alter them.”

Allan Muirhead, a town councillor and member of the church committee, claimed relocating the rise and fall mechanism would ‘distort the aesthetic design for no good reason’.

“Similar mechanisms are part of the gates at Queen’s Square but it has been decided that these gates do not need to be altered. Some might wonder if the mechanism has to be altered at Church Street, why the mechanism at Queen’s Square can be left as it is.”

Helen Houseman, of Killington, a regular visitor to Kirkby Lonsdale, told the Gazette: “I don’t see why a wire cage can’t be made to fit around the mechanism. It would solve the problem without having to alter the gates.”

The assessment commissioned by the church committee states: “There is a hazard arising from the closing mechanism, such that should a child put its fingers into the mechanism they would be crushed if the wheel ran over them.”“The gates are on the main thoroughfare from the town to the church and although has not known to be an incident of this type, such an incident is reasonably foreseeable.”

The document also suggested the mechanism was not an original feature of the gates, which were built in 1823 for £43.