A CHILDREN’S nursery will be opened at a North Yorkshire hospice after plans to convert part of the site were approved by the council.
Little Footsteps Nursery will convert part of the St Catherine’s Hospice facility near Scarborough into a children’s nursery following the approval of plans.
Located at Throxenby Lane in Newby, Scarborough, the nursery will take up around 340 sqm of the overall 4,500 sqm purpose-built hospice facility which is surrounded by trees and green space.
The space was most recently used by a doctor’s surgery that was ancillary to the hospice and which has since relocated.
A secure outdoor area of approximately 170sqm will be dedicated to the nursery, which will also include a management office, staff room, nappy changing room and toilets, supported by sleeping and feeding rooms.
No objections were raised by the local parish council or the Highway Authority.
The proposed internal alterations are “very minor, while the only notable external change is the creation of a secure external lobby where parents and guardians will wait for their children to be collected or returned”.
A new canopy will also be created for that area to make it “more comfortable in case of rain”.
There will be 12-15 employees, which is equivalent to the number of staff employed by the previous doctor’s surgery at the site, according to plans.
Little Footsteps Nursery said that drop-offs are typically spread across a wide timeframe and noted that the site is on a bus route and within easy walking distance of several thousand homes.
There are 110 car parking spaces on the site and it is estimated that 50-60 are generally taken up by staff, with the remainder used by visitors and volunteers, with eight spaces dedicated to the children’s nursery.
“The site already adopts a car share scheme for its staff, and the nursery will be encouraged to join this initiative or to do likewise, and pedestrian access will be provided via existing defined routes within the site,” according to submitted plans.
North Yorkshire Council approved the application, subject to conditions, on Tuesday, July 21.