A CONTROVERSIAL proposal for the construction of a new purpose-built nursery or child care facility within the grounds of Eggar’s School has been dismissed at appeal.

The application by Tootsies Day Nursery Ltd for a single-storey building for use as a pre-school, plus associated parking, was turned down by East Hampshire planners in October last year because the applicant had failed to demonstrate that the open space, to be lost as a result of the proposed development, was surplus to requirement by Eggar’s School, nor that it would be replaced by equivalent provision.

The proposal for the London Road site would, planners felt, result in the “unjustified loss of a playing field, which would undermine the successful provision of adequate recreation areas in the locality,” contrary to local planning policy. Furthermore, it was “not considered that the benefits of the proposal in relation to the provision of additional child care facilities would outweigh this harm”.

EHDC had received more than 60 comments from the public on this application, at least threequarters of them objecting on grounds of wrong location, increased traffic, a risk of increased localised flooding due to surface water run-off, and irreparable loss of open space at a time when Alton is growing in size but has just lost the nearby Coors sports ground to development.

In considering the appeal application, following a site visit in April, Government planning inspector John Allan found that the proposal would “harm the provision of sport, recreation and play facilities in the area by its failure to comply with EHDC’s joint core strategy and framework, in so far as they seek to safeguard the provision of existing sports land”.