THE battle between Burton villagers and a local nursery looks set to continue as a defeated application for the parish hall gets sent to appeal.
The application to allow alterations to the hall on the corner of Salisbury Road and Preston Lane and turn it into an extension of Burton Day Nursery was refused by Christchurch Borough Council earlier this year.
Despite the nursery saying they were willing to offer local groups the use of the building outside their operating hours, villagers said plans to divide the two rooms would mean the hall would not be an appropriate venue for most village activities and organisations.
Burton Parish Council has written to the planning inspector to oppose the application for the change of use.
Chairman Judy Jamieson said: “We have grave concerns over parking etc but the safety of the children is paramount.
“There will be no parking at the new site so young children would be coming out onto the main road through Burton.
“There is no street lighting through this part of Burton and an added danger would be that there may well be siblings at the two different sites who would need to cross this dark, busy road any time up to 6pm.”
The parish council also raised concerns about the change of use for the community facility, which is on land owned by the Meyrick Estates.
Mrs Jamieson added: “The change of use would deny residents the use of this much-needed facility.
“The facility was closed because there was a short period left on the lease, the landlord refused to renew the lease therefore the trustees were unable to obtain funding for necessary repairs and improvements to bring the building up to the required Health and Safety laws.”
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