THE FUTURE of a heavily-debated children's nursery in Ickenham was secured last night (Monday) after months of indecision.
A special meeting was held at the Civic Centre in Uxbridge to thrash out the future of the application which has cast a dark cloud over the council's planning department ever since its approval was controversially rescinded in December.
The council's big guns were wheeled out for the meeting, with Jean Palmer, head of planning, Lloyd White, head of democratic services, and Rajesh Alagh, borough solicitor all joining the committee to oversee events.
Many objections were raised to the Rectory Way nursery, with three petitioners speaking out against it at the meeting, including Rachel Moore on behalf of the Ickenham Residents Association.
After nearly two hours of extensive debate, the committee voted four to one in favour of approving the nursery, with Councillor Elizabeth Kemp voting against it, while Councillor John Oswell, Councillor Brian Stead, Councillor Janet Duncan and Councillor Michael Bull giving their seal of approval.
Negin Nassabeh, the applicant for the children's day care nursery said after the meeting: "I am very happy, I'm really pleased the committee saw fit to ratify the decision. I will have a few days to rest, then I'm looking forward to starting the plans.
"There is a real demand for childcare in Ickenham and I can now help that."
Numerous objections were lodged at the meeting, with regards to parking issues, traffic issues, noise, refuse management, the fact the nursery lay in a protected conservation area, and even the area's childcare needs were disputed.
Since the plans only included the internal adaptation of the house rather than any significant external building the panel decreed it would not unduly affect the conservation zone.
As part of the approval conditions were placed on the 18 place nursery, including the staggering of arrival and collection times, so all parents would not arrive at once, leading to a bottleneck of traffic in the road.
Also a condition was placed on the number of children allowed to play outside at any one time, with a maximum of six to be enforced, and six foot high motorway fencing is to be placed on the outside to keep the noise down, despite grumblings from councillors.
Councillor John Oswell said: "I'm concerned when I hear people complain about the noise of children, I rather like it."
Rosemary Hodgson, who petitioned and spoke at the meeting said: "They got it wrong, we are extremely disappointed. We will look at the conditions and make sure they stick to them to the letter.
"The location of the toilet in the annex was different on the plan shown to the one we received so we have written to the clerk for clarification."
