Parents' plea for safety: Please fence us

BIG GAP: Sarah Hunt with her daughter Aiesha, 2, and son Hayden, 8, in the back yard of their Kummer Cres home show how close the railway tracks are. PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

A young Masterton couple who fought for three years to convince their landlord Trust House to fence off the back of their Kummer Cres section, fearing for the lives of their three children, are on the brink of having their problem solved.

Sarah Hunt and her partner Cody Pratt want the fence because the backyard leads directly to an open creek and beyond that railway tracks.

They were striving to have a fence, which had been destroyed during an earlier tenancy, rebuilt to safeguard their children Hayden, 8, Aliesa, 2, and Courtney, aged 7 months.

This week Ms Hunt came to the Times-Age in a desperate attempt to get help and an approach to the Trust House chief executive Allan Pollard got an instant result.

Mr Pollard said he had personally been unaware of the situation until contacted by the newspaper, having 485 properties in the housing portfolio, but upon learning of it began an immediate investigation.

Later he contacted the newspaper to say a contractor would be visiting the property to price a back fence for the couple.

Mr Pollard said the deciding factor in the quick result was the presence of young children.

The trust could not always provide everything every tenant wanted, "although we would love to be able to please them all", he said.

"But, in this case, the fact young children live there made the difference.

"We intend to have a contractor call as soon a possible to look at the job, give us a price and then the work will be done," he said.

A delighted Ms Hunt said the end of the saga would mean she would no longer have to supervise her children every minute they were playing in the yard.

"If the phone rings I have to bring them inside immediately, I can't leave them in the yard unattended for even a minute."

Ms Hunt said it was not only the safety of her own children that had worried her and Cody, but also the risk the lack of fencing posed to the children's playmates who called to the house.

One little girl who had come to play managed to find her way on to the rail tracks before being rescued and brought back.

The couple are beneficiaries and Ms Hunt said they had occasionally fallen slightly behind in rent payments to Trust House. "But we have always caught up, right now we owe a week's rent."

In an attempt to strengthen their case for a fence the couple had enlisted the support of Masterton Christian Child Care and a social worker has sent a letter to the housing manager for Trust House expressing concern for the safety of the family and young visitors.

The letter noted that due to the layout of homes in the vicinity, outdoor playing areas cannot be easily seen from inside and that with summer approaching it is likely "outdoor play will become a priority, and this is of great concern to us".