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Oversight leads to retrospective application to Highland Council by Highland nursery


By Alasdair Fraser

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The Kinder Croft site.
The Kinder Croft site.

AN outdoor children’s nursery is seeking retrospective planning consent to operate in woodland near Ullapool – after an administrative oversight.

Kinder Croft CIC has been providing day care for pre-school youngsters from the age of three upwards at Leckmelm Wood near Loch Broom since 2019.

It was granted full planning permission that year, but planning papers for the renewed application say that the neighbour notification process was not completed.

The new application will include neighbour consultation until November 26, with a determination deadline set for December 23 this year.

The nursery – given a glowing report by the Care Inspectorate this summer – wants the green light to operate the child care service with shelter, compost toilets, parking and a drop-off area.

It is also seeking approval for the use of a mobile unit as office and muster station.

The woodland day care service uses access from an existing public road, but the application acknowledges that the first 70 metres of access road is in “neighbouring ownership”.

The applicants are seeking planning permission for three years, with their application stating: “Whilst currently economically viable, it is uncertain what number of children will enrol in the future.”

The application also stated that previously granted planning permission “could be challenged” through the lack of neighbour consultation and the fact that it “included some land that was not in the ownership of the applicant”.

It added: “Since being developed in 2019, a mobile unit has been installed to address increasing staffing needs. The drop-off area that was on neighbouring ground has been removed and new parking and drop-off designated wholly within the existing development on ground leased from the Leckmelm Wood owners.”

The Care Inspectorate’s unannounced inspection rated the service provided by Kinder Croft as “very good” in all areas, at level five on a scale of one to six, where six indicated excellence.

Inspectors found the large outdoor site offered a very wide range of opportunities for exploration and learning and described children as “extremely happy and relaxed” in the care of staff.

They clearly enjoyed the freedom of their surroundings and were “confident and eager to learn”, while parents and carers also gave extremely positive feedback.

The small staff team were also found to be “very committed and motivated” to provide children with “an opportunity to have freedom to play, investigate, develop and learn” under supervision.


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