A CONTROVERSIAL plan to replace a dilapidated fence at a Teignmouth school has been put on hold – by nesting birds.

Teignmouth Community School says the old wire mesh fence is beyond repair and a new one is vital for health and safety reasons, but a neighbour strongly objects.

The fence protects the boundary between a grassed area on the lower school site and the rear gardens of properties in Higher Brimley.

But one resident, Charlie Trueman, maintains that tearing down the old structure would destroy climbing plants and other shrubs he has grown up against it for the last 20 years, and would mean a loss of privacy.