A NEW security fence is set to be erected beside the M65 close to where a 15-year-old was knocked down and killed.

The Highways Agency wants to place meshing on top of a boundary wall for a 160-metre stretch near Rosegrove Lane as a result of the death of Harrison Hartley in March 2007.

An inquest heard that Harrison, of Harling Street, Burnley, who had been playing football beside the motorway beforehand with friends, had scaled the boundary wall.

The Hameldon Community College pupil had urged pals to play ‘chicken’ on the motorway but they refused, watching as he crossed the eastbound and westbound carriageways.

But as he was returning across the central reservation ready to cross the westbound lanes a second time, he appeared to stumble.

He fell into the path of a Volkswagen Polo and was dealt a glancing blow by the vehicle.

Harrison was taken to Burnley General Hospital but later transferred to a specialist unit at Pendlebury, where he died two days later from his injuries.

Following the inquest the boy’s grandmother Jane Britaine said: “Please listen to what has happened and don’t play on the motorway.

“We don't want anyone else to die in this way.”

The teenager’s death prompted a series of campaigns in local schools, warning children of the dangers of motorway trespass.

Commenting on the latest proposals, a Highways Agency spokesman said in a report to Burnley planners: “Following an inquest into a fatality, and as a result of comments made by the coroner, together with other incidents of a similar nature, the fence is required to discourage trespass on to the motorway from adjacent land.”

Highways officials say the installation will not obstruct any existing accesses and will blend in with fencing at the nearby Motorpoint site.