PLAY will remain the order of the day for youngsters who feared their school climbing frame was going to be knocked down.

Neighbours of West Hill Primary School, Dartford Road, Dartford, complained the wooden frame with a scramble net and fireman’s pole, invaded their privacy because cheeky youngsters were peering over their garden fences.

And the school, which was advised it could construct the climbing frame without planning permission, faced paying £13,000 to remove it.

Parents drew up a petition to keep the climbing frame, which they said was a main focal point in the playground.

Kent County Council (KCC) has ruled the climbing frame can remain where it is, so long as a fence, higher than the climbing frame, is also constructed.

This will allow the residents of Stanham Road to go about their business without being peered at by curious tots.

The school and KCC are yet to decide what material the fence should be made of, but the aim is it should be as ‘minimally imposing’ as possible.

The decision brings to an end more than two years of dispute between the school and neighbours.