Parking concerns expressed over plans for nursery move

Battle Abbey School wants to close its current nursery in Penland Road, Bexhill, and build a new nursery on its prep school site in Hastings Road.

The new nursery would accommodate up to 65 children aged from three months.

The current nursery is registered to take 44 children.

Rother District Council’s planning officers have recommended that planning permission is granted.

But 15 letters from residents, plus a 20-signature strong petition, have raised concerns.

Leonard Walker, who lives opposite the prep school in Hastings Road, says the increase in pupil numbers would exacerbate existing parking problems in the area.

He said: “This part of Hastings Road is full of cars, day in day out, from the college.”

He added that parents picking children up from Battle Abbey and St Mary Magdalene School added to the congestion.

He added: “The report that has been put forward by senior officers at the council has not taken into account any of the problems associated with the road at the present time.”

He added that he felt the council is ‘rushing through’ the planning application and felt the plans had not been advertised widely enough.

Mr Walker said: “Nobody was informed that the council meeting was going to be heard on Thursday for the application to go through.”

A spokesperson for Battle Abbey School said there are currently seven parking spaces on the prep school site, which will be expanded to accommodate 22 cars.

She pointed out that a number of pre-school children are brought to the site via minibus.

She told the Observer: “We are trying to ease parking as we see it is difficult for parents.”