A plan to turn the former Underwood Chapel in Plympton into a nursery has been refused.
Key takeaways about Underwood Chapel Nursery refusal:
- Traffic and Safety Concerns Block Nursery Proposal: Despite the acknowledged shortfall of over 1,500 Early Years places in Plymouth, council officers refused the nursery application due to concerns about increased traffic, obstructed footways, and hazardous pedestrian conditions in Underwood Road.
- Public Opinion Divided: The proposal sparked significant public debate, with over 55% of the 74 submitted representations supporting the nursery, while 31 letters raised objections citing parking, safety, and accessibility challenges.
- Council Prioritizes Policy Compliance: The refusal cited conflicts with the Joint Local Plan and National Planning Policy Framework, emphasizing the council’s stance on sustainable development and safe, accessible environments.
The proposal drew a large response from the public with people polarised between favouring the nursery because of current underprovision and opposed to it because of the likely effect on traffic, parking and pedestrian safety.
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The decision to refuse the application was made by council officers under delegated powers without the matter going to a full meeting of the city’s planning committee.
In a document explaining the decision the council accepted there is currently a citywide shortfall of more than 1,500 Early Years places and acknowledged that both the Council’s Strategic Co-operative Commissioning and its Education, Participation and Skills teams were supportive of the application as were more than 55 percent of the 74 letters of representation the council had received.
However the determining officer concluded these were trumped by the Highways Department’s objection, the key points of which were also touched on by the 31 letters of objection provoked by the application.
Planning officers concluded:
“The application would provide much-needed childcare places which would help to meet existing need and support planned growth.
“However, the proposal will generate additional vehicle movements and parking demand from staff and customers, which would result in daily interference with the free flow of traffic in Underwood Road causing short term obstructions and overspill car parking including on footways, in an area that is already prone to obstructions and parking issues.
“The proposed nursery would attract parents and guardians with one or more young children, and the substandard footways that would likely be obstructed by cars, would present a hazardous street environment for young children walking with an adult, or for use by pushchairs and/or persons with impaired mobility.
“The overly steep pedestrian access to the Chapel also fails to provide equal access for all users and is hazardous and unsuitable for the proposed use.”
Officers concluded that the application was contrary to a number of policies set out in the Joint Local Plan as well as a number of provisions in the National Planning Policy Framework.
The council indicated it works in a positive and pro-active way with applicants and looks for solutions to enable the grant of planning permission, including the offer of pre-application discussions to resolve issues of concern to the council prior to formal submission of a planning application.
However it concluded:
“In this case the proposal is not sustainable development for the reasons set out and the council was unable to identify a way of securing a development that improves the economic, social and environmental conditions of the area.”
(Story courtesy of the Plympton Podcast)
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