Nursery set for go-ahead (From York Press)

Nursery set for go-ahead at Clifton Gate Business Park

8:06am Wednesday 19th September 2012 in News By Mark Stead, Political Reporter

A NEW nursery could be set up next to a children’s play centre on the edge of York despite traffic fears.

Proposals for the 24-space facility, which would stand alongside the Creepy Crawlies play base at Clifton Gate Business Park, will be discussed by councillors tomorrow and have been recommended for approval by City of York Council planners.

If it gets the go-ahead, the day nursery would cater for youngsters aged between three and five and be created in a building which is currently used as a reception, café and briefing room for the High Ropes adventure course at the Wigginton Road site. Creepy Crawlies would operate it and the centre’s play facilities would be used by children attending the nursery.

A report by the council’s development management officer, Kevin O’Connell, which will go before tomorrow’s planning committee meeting, said the applicants had claimed the scheme would help meet an unmet demand for childcare in the city, particularly in the Acomb area. But the authority’s childcare strategy section disputed this, although it has not raised any objection to the plans.

The team said Acomb had a low number of childcare places, but a “higher than average” number of residents preferred to use family and friends to look after their children instead and there was “no indication” parents would use a nursery in the north of York if they did not live in that area.

Wigginton Parish Council has opposed the application, saying it would increase traffic, the site was “unsuitable” for childcare and access to the business park was “inadequate”.

But Mr O’Connell’s report said: “While the site is on a business park, it has a long history of catering for children and the nursery use would not be incompatible with the character of the surrounding area.

“Given the limited increase in traffic using the junction [at Wigginton Road] as a result of the proposal, highways officers do not object and adequate car-parking and circulation space is available to accommodate traffic generated by the nursery.”

Haxby and Wigginton councillor Paul Firth asked for the nursery scheme to be debated by the planning committee after saying he had concerns about traffic and the “piecemeal” way he believed the business park was being developed. If the plans are approved, part of the High Ropes course would be fenced off to provide a secure outdoor play area for the nursery’s children.