A decision on extending outdoor play hours at an Oakley Pre-School has been deferred after councillors voted to carry out a site visit before making a ruling.
Bedford Borough Council’s planning committee voted 6–3 on Monday (23 February) to postpone a decision on an application to vary conditions attached to Oakley Pre-School, based behind the Methodist Church.
The proposal sought to amend operating hours and replace the existing 2022 noise management plan with an updated 2025 version. No physical changes to the building were proposed.
Under the current permission, outdoor play is restricted to 9.15am–3.30pm.
The application proposed revised timings across two outdoor zones, including earlier and later use.
The committee heard that objections raised concerns about noise, early morning disturbance and parking pressures, and all were “carefully considered”.
Objector David Tarrant, who lives behind the site, told the committee the changes would increase outdoor play time from six hours to nine and a half hours a day, adding it was a “a massive 50 per cent increase”.
He said: “Imagine waking up not to birdsong or quiet, but to children screaming and shouting directly outside your bedroom window at 8.15am.
“Imagine wanting to enjoy a coffee on your patio… only to be met with what is essentially a playground outside [your] back garden.”
He argued that a wooded buffer area had effectively been reclassified as an active play space, bringing noise closer to neighbouring homes.
Planning officers had recommended approval, stating the council’s environmental health officer had raised no objection to the revised noise management plan and concluding the proposal would not result in significant adverse impacts on residential amenity.
The pre-school’s agent, Justin Wickersham, said the principle of a nursery on the site was already established and the application related only to operational details.
He said: “This is a question of the hours of operation and the degree to which that might affect residents during the normal working day.”
Manager Sally Martiello added, “We don’t put all the children outside to play. It’s free-flow play, so children choose whether they want to be inside or outside.”
However, councillor Wendy Rider MBE (Lib Dem, Brickhill) proposed deferring the application for a site visit, suggesting members attend at a time when children are present “so that we can experience the noise at this particular time of the morning”.
Conservative cllr Dylan Simmonds (Bromham) argued the scheme complied with local and neighbourhood plan policies and suggested members could instead consider amending conditions.
Members agreed, by a majority vote, to defer the application for a site visit until next month.
Cllr Jonathan Abbott (Lib Dem, Clapham and Oakley), chair of the committee, said: “I think the kindergarten is a fantastic facility, and I feel very proud that we have it in the village.
“I think it’ll be useful to see it and then we can make an informed decision.”
By John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
