Nursery plan rejected over parking concerns

Plans for a nursery and family centre in Sheffield have been refused because of parking on a busy road.

The proposal to build the nursery by converting Malik House on Springfield Road was rejected by city councillors at a planning meeting.

The nursery would have catered for up to 47 babies and children per session, but planning officers recommended it be refused on the grounds it could generate "a significant increase in parking demand".

It said this would result in "inappropriate parking which would be disruptive" to traffic nearby.

The applicants wanted to convert the house from a four-bedroomed family home, building on a single-storey side extension, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

They had offered to have staggered drop-off and pick-up times and to use a minivan, in order to lessen parking concerns.

Paul McGrath, of the Sharrow Community Forum, said the local church attracted a lot of street parking, especially for weddings and funerals.

He told the meeting on Tuesday: "Residents are rightly asking when there will be any quiet at all."

Supporters of the application had claimed, however, that there was a shortage of specialist childcare provision, particularly for children with special educational needs (SEND).

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