After nearly 2 years trying to extend and open her day nursery in Wolverhampton, PLPlanning were approached to assist. A day nursery has run from the site for many years and had an urgent need to provide additional space to meet demand for places. Following a previous refusal of planning permission, planning permission to extend the nursery had been secured. However permission was subject to newly imposed conditions:

Restricting the hours of operation and numbers of children who could attend the nursery (where there was no previous restriction),
Limiting the numbers of children who could play outside (where there was no previous restriction) and,
Imposing a requirement to carry out a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) to limit parking on the road.

The Council had refused permission to vary one condition and delete the other.

The appeal set out what the Inspector in his decision letter described as a compelling case to delete the TRO condition completely on the grounds it was unreasonable and unnecessary. The inspector also concluded that restricting the numbers of children playing outside would place a significant burden on the current operation of the nursery, which has no such restrictions and accepted that the difference between the impacts of the existing, the approved and the scheme as sought would not be materially discernable. He therefore removed the restriction on outdoor play number, increased the opening hours and approved to up to 106 children attending the day nursery.

Yet another great result and delighted client.