Development Control Policy
Guidance Note No. 6 - Day Nurseries
The demand for childcare changes constantly, in order to discuss childcare sufficiency in Tameside contact the Childcare Registrations Adviser based at Families Information Service (FIS) on 0161 342 4260.
Existing day nurseries occupy a wide variety of buildings and locations, including town centre and industrial sites, residential areas, and rural locations.
A day nursery is in Use Class D1 - non-residential institutions. Planning permission would not be required to use, for example a former school or hospital building, but it would be needed for the conversation of a house, office or factory, or for any new building.
Day nurseries must be registered by Ofsted who are the regulatory body and you are required to adhere to the Welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Framework. Application packs can be obtained from the Childcare Registrations Adviser.
Suggested Guidelines
1. Consultation
The Childcare Registrations Adviser should be consulted on all applications for daycare.
2. Location
A wide variety of locations may in principle be suitable for a day nursery, including town centre and industrial sites, residential and rural areas subject to the general policies, for example, development in the Green Belt.
3. Access
Road access should be safe and direct and should allow for uninterrupted passage of cars and service vehicles. Access via narrow or unmade roads, roads obstructed by parked cars, or residential cul-de-sac will not be acceptable. It should be possible for children to be dropped off safely close to the door of the nursery.
There should be adequate car parking on site at a ration of 1 space for every full-time teacher and 1 space for every three part-time and ancillary staff and the parking layout should enable visiting cars to enter and leave the site in forward gear. In re-using town centre buildings it may be possible to relax these standards to take into account nearby public car parks and public transport.
Where car parking is limited, the Council may impose conditions limiting the maximum numbers of children on the premises to ensure that car parking on adjoining streets does not become a problem.
Day nurseries should be accessible by public transport so that they can be used by parents without cars.
4. Environmental Issues
In town centres and industrial locations, a day nursery is unlikely to give rise to any environmental problems arising from, for example, noise. However, some industrial locations close to noisy or polluting industry would not be suitable for a day nursery.
In residential areas, a nursery could create problems arising from traffic or the noise of children playing. The conversion of a large detached house, with a substantial garden, on a through road may well be acceptable.
Conversion of a terraced house, without a garden area in a cul-de-sac is most unlikely to be acceptable.
Where semi-detached premises are to be converted, considerable care will be needed to ensure that the impact to neighbours is acceptable and conditions will be imposed to secure soundproofing of party walls and floors.
In residential areas, conditions will normally be imposed to limit the hours of operation to the working day, i.e. 8.00am - 6.00pm Monday to Friday in order to minimise noise disturbance and the impact of traffic.