PHUKET: A public park in Phuket City has been fenced in with barbed wire and become the centre of a debate involving one of Phuket's best-known families.

A large noticeboard has been placed on the park in the Sam Kong district of Phuket City, declaring that the park is to be developed as a private nursery school by the owner of the property.

Documents relating to the land are attached, including an old title that has aroused the interest of the Hongsyok family, which once owned the real estate on which the park and surounding houses now stand.

The road that leads up from the Bangkok Hospital Phuket in Yaowarat Road past the small park is Soi Hongyok Utit, a modern link with the land's past.

Although the land title, a copy of which is posted on the noticeboard, appears genuine, the name of the Hongsyok family has also been invoked, causing them some concern.

No building application has been submitted, said a spokesperson at Phuket City municipality today. But it's believed the nursery school project could go ahead unless the municipality buys the park from the owner.

The park is used by locals for festivities and groups of local women perfomed their aerobics every evening until the barbed wire went up.

A notice on the board apologises for disrupting the aerobics, and suggests the women move to the baksketball court, the only part of the park that has not been fenced in.

The use of the land as a park for the neighborhood goes back many years and is the only park in the area. It is believed the park was fenced with barbed wire in a similar fashion just a few years ago.