Former village police station to be converted into children’s day nursery

A former village police station is to be converted into a children’s day nursery.

The plans for the change of use of Gresford Police Station, on Chester Road, were given the go ahead by a majority of planning committee members at a meeting last night (Monday 3 October).

It is the second time that an application to use the building for a nursery has been debated by councillors, after previous plans were rejected by both the local authority and planning inspectorate.

The amended application, which included a reduction in the number of children the nursery could accomodate and the introduction of a car sharing scheme for staff, was submitted for consideration this year.

The applicants said that as a result of this change the 10 parking places at the front of the site will be “more than adequate to cater for the 24 proposed children and eight staff”.

Of these spaces, eight will be made available to parents and two reserved for staff parking.

The applicants have proposed that a staff travel plan will be used to ensure that only two staff vehicles will ever be on site at any one time.

Speaking at the meeting last night planning officer Matthew Phillips, said: “The issue for the refusal lack of parking and that the demand for parking was assessed on the the number of children which were going to be cared for at the facility at the daycare centre and also the number of staff, which was 39 children and 13 staff

“In response to that the applicants have come back with with a revision to reduce the number of children that will be on site at any one time

“Having considered that and also the the typical turnaround, the highways authority are content that their original concerns are addressed.”

Cllr Dana Davies moved the officer’s recommendation for approval, stating that more childcare provision is needed in the county borough.

The application to turn the former police station into a nursery was given the go ahead, with all but two committee members voting in favour of the plans.