Plans for a new pre-school on the former site of a Surrey caretaker’s house have been labelled potentially “detrimental” to pedestrians and highway safety.

But parents argue the nursery would allow a smooth transition and “help children achieve”. But parents argue the nursery would allow a smooth transition and “help children achieve”. 

St Thomas of Canterbury’s School in Merrow, Guildford, has put forward plans to transform a 1960s caretaker’s bungalow into a pre-school. The empty caretaker’s block could be transformed into an L-shaped building with a new entrance, a foyer and a canopy for a sheltered outdoor play area. 

The new classroom space could cater to up to 31 pupils aged between two and four and run from 7:30am-5:30pm, Monday-Friday. The application details there may be opportunities for the pre-school to operate outside of term time too.

But planning officers have opposed the scheme claiming there would be too much traffic at the start and the end of the school day. The benefits of the nursery site do not outweigh the harms on highway safety, a council report concluded. 

Members of Guildford Borough Council’s planning committee will decide on whether the pre-school can go ahead on June 18. Suggesting councillors refuse the application, officers said converting the site as it would result in an “over intensification” of the school grounds. 

Council documents reveal the preschool could result in eight additional cars around the site at peak hours of 8-9am and 4-5pm. No extra parking spaces would be provided for the new nursery or on the wider school site. 

“The proposed development would result in unacceptable highway safety impacts on the adjoining highway,” according to the County Highway Authority. In a rare move, Surrey Highways has objected to the plans, claiming the existing road safety issues and congestion are already a concern. 

The Highways Authority also slammed the school’s proposed mitigation measures as “insufficiently robust”, which could cause “unacceptable detriment to the safe operation of the public highway and to the safety of pedestrians accessing the school”. 

Around 36 letters supporting the application have been sent in. Many of those in favour of the new preschool argue it will allow better transition to reception and “help children to achieve” academically.  Some parents said it would build more links with families and the community.

Others pointed out there are many parents who have children at St Thomas’ school already so it will help alleviate traffic pollution with parents only having to make one journey to drop and collect their children.

St Thomas of Canterbury’s School has already been awarded a capital grant to construct a school based nursery, according to the report. UK Government policy has committed to open new nurseries on existing primary school sites and creating early-years education spaces is strongly encouraged.