PLANS for a children’s day care nursery in Verwood have sparked concerns over increased traffic and pedestrian safety.

The application for land at Church Hill has been submitted by Read Quality Building to East Dorset District Council and also includes associated access, car parking, cycle storage, and a nursery garden.

Letters have been posted on the council’s planning website raising concerns including the impact of increased traffic movements, vehicle emissions and pedestrian safety. One said: “Parents dropping off and collecting children from this nursery will inevitably unsafely park as close as possible to it and so also further increase congestion on narrow estate roads.”

The application states there will be 13 parking spaces – five designated for staff - and that as the “vast majority of staff” live locally the level of parking was considered appropriate.

Planning documents submitted by the applicant state there would be an “in-out” arrangement to allow vehicles to enter the site from the mini-roundabout on Church Hill and leave onto Church Hill via a private driveway crossover.

It said: “This arrangement is considered to be the most appropriate to enable parents dropping off and picking up their children to enter the site, park and leave with minimal congestion.”

It added: “With regard to parking for parents – because the children are dropped off and collected at different times during the morning and afternoon – the level of onsite parking proposed eight spaces combined with the one way access arrangement is considered appropriate.

“The nursery also attracts a great many children from the locality within Verwood and therefore it is reasonable to conclude that not all children will be brought onto the premises by car.”

The application states the “majority of the proposed building comprises a single storey structure” which would be “unlikely to give rise to any unacceptable overlooking or harm to the amenity of neighbouring residents”. It says the user of the nursery is relocating from other premises that are no longer suitable.

The consultation ends on February 25.