Bournemouth nursery apply for permission to expand

The nursery, which is based at the Dean Park cricket ground, had their number of children increased to 45 earlier in the year.

This new application will incorporate the building of a temporary structure behind the scoreboard at the cricket ground, where 20 of the 65 students will work, play and learn.

The application read: “To further support the development of the nursery, we are integrating Forest School into the provision.

“Our aim is to utilise our unique outdoor environment and extend our commitment to offer local children outstanding learning opportunities.

“Being situated in the centre of the BCP urban connection, it is important for us to foster and nurture children’s connection to nature and use natural resources to support their development.”

The new structure will only be visible from behind the scoreboard, which means the character and appearance of the area will not be affected.

The Cooper Dean Pavilion is a grade two listed building and the application states that there will be no change to the pavilion itself.

According to Bournemouth Borough Council's most recent childcare sufficiency survey in 2018, the population in the central ward of Bournemouth had increased by 32 per cent.

This application is designed to support the population growth and will mean more children will have access to places at the nursery.

Dean Park Day Nursery is one of only four day nurseries in this ward and when the nursery was granted permission to expand to 45 children in July, the extra 19 places were filled instantly from nursery’s waiting list, showing the demand for child day-care in this area.

The nursery also received no complaints about noise or the increase of traffic after expanding and predict this additional 20 children will also have no effect, due to “the careful arranging of timetables, including staggered times for drop off and collection.”

So far, the application has received no appeals.