A Huyton nursery has been given permission to expand its capacity after the sudden closure of another nursery caused a surge in demand.
Honey Pot Nursery, based at Beech House on Huyton Church Road, submitted an application to Knowsley Council in March just prior to the sudden closure of the nearby Orchard Day nursery.
When the Orchard closed without warning following an industrial dispute, it left dozens of parents struggling to find childcare for their children.
Honey Pot currently occupies the ground floor of Beech House, with the top floor laid out as flats. The upper floors were occupied by the previous owner of the nursery as living accommodation although since an acquisition by the Honey Pot Nursery Group this use is no longer required.
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According to an application submitted by the day nursery, the plans for expansion involved taking over the upstairs flats to provide additional nursery accommodation and use the second floor for office space to allow the centre to expand to looking after up to 102 children, adding nearly 30 spaces to the nursery’s capacity.
In a report released by Knowsley Council planning officers this week, the closure of the Orchard is referenced, stating this had caused an “increased demand” in the area for childcare places, which Honey Pot’s expansion could help to ease.
The nursery has operated at the site for over 25 years, and the application included the provision of laid out parking spaces on an area of tarmac in the grounds of the detached Victorian building.
While some concerns were raised by conservation officers as the building sits within a conservation area that the laying out of the car park could reduce the “residential” appearance of the site, this was not lodge as a formal objection.
The planning report stated that conservation officers said that while “the character of the area as a Victorian residential suburb should be maintained” there might not be “controls” to require this to be carried out.
Officers did however recommend that the marking out of the car park spaces is carried out using risers or brass studs to “minimise the visual impact.”
With no objections to the expansion, officers said the plans were acceptable and granted approval for the nursery’s expansion.
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