PLANS to relocate a Whitchurch nursery to an unused plot of land just off a residential street are facing growing opposition.

An application submitted to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council last week proposes moving Whitchurch Montessori Nursery and its ‘forest school’ to land at the Knowlings.

The nursery needs a new site as its current lease at Testbourne Community School expires early next year.

At the time of writing, the proposals have garnered 58 online responses, 39 of which object to the idea.

Earlier in the week, opinion had been split, with 15 objections and 13 comments in support of the plans.

Whitchurch Montessori Nursery currently caters for 57 children aged between two and five-years-old, 48 of whom live in Whitchurch. Its existing lease ends in February 2020, meaning the new premises would need to be up and running before term starts on January 7.

The proposal seeks approval for the construction of a new nursery building, parking spaces for 14 cars and a grassed play area as well as the planting of its ‘forest school’ trees.

The new building will allow for the same number of pupils the nursery currently has, plus the creation of two special classrooms - one for “additional needs children, focussing on sensory learning” and the other to cater for an increasing number of “children that are deferring/decelerating from school”.

Those objecting have cited the proximity to dwellings and the impacts on wildlife and traffic as concerns.

One resident of the Knowlings, said: “Traffic is horrendous in the Knowlings already.

“This will only add further traffic to a small road. We simply cannot cope with more people and more cars.”

Others sites are being suggested by the objectors, such as the new development at Mill Springs, while some raised concerns that approving this application would “open the door” for more houses to be built, compounding the traffic problems.

The applicant seeks to address those traffic issues in its Transport Statement. It says there are just 13 traffic movements a day to the current site, nine of which take place from 9am to 9.30am, falling “outside of the normal peak traffic period of 8am to 9am”.

To view the application, go to planning.basingstoke.gov.uk/online-applications and search for 19/01452/FUL.