Expansion bid by Barwell nursery

A NURSERY is looking to expand but must ask for permission from the borough council first.

A planning condition means The Old Rectory Nursery in Shilton Road Barwell is limited to 42 children.

However, success of the venture and the take-up of extra places since the Government increased free childcare hours for working parents, means more demand.

Now the operators have submitted an application to vary the planning conditions so that up to 64 children can be accommodated.

In a bid to stave off traffic movement and congestion concerns, as well as prove that more on-site parking is not required despite the rise in attendances, a vehicle survey has been carried out.

The nursery has six car parking spaces, which according to the results of the survey are rarely if ever full, are only occasionally half full and are routinely empty.

Busy times centre around 8am, 1pm and 5pm.

The applicant says staff walk to work as they live in Barwell or Earl Shilton and of the families registered to the nursery, 20 families walk, 34 families drive and 11 do a mixture of both.

No extra noise is expected to be generated as the children go out in staggered groups.

The opening times are 7.30am to 6pm.

The Old Rectory Nursery was permitted a change of use in November 2015 allowing the first floor residential space to become a nursery in conjunction with the existing ground floor nursery use.

This expansion started at the beginning of January 2016.