BOLTON School has won its battle to build an 80-place, fee paying nursery.

The independent school has won its appeal to the Department of the Environment against Bolton Council's refusal of the scheme.

The council's rejection centred around the traffic the nursery would generate in the morning and early evening when parents were dropping off and picking up their children.

Mr Robin Senior, Bolton School clerk and treasurer said the school would be creating additional parking spaces which would overcome any difficulties. He said: "We have wanted to build a nursery for some time and believe the car park we are planning to build will overcome any perceived difficulties. Whilst we appreciated the points local residents were making, we feel we have taken steps to overcome their objections.

"A nursery has been a long term plan of the school and we are obviously delighted by this decision.

"We shall be creating a high quality nursery for 80 children, from the ages of six months upwards. As far as we're concerned it's a natural progression to what we provide for parents and children at present," he added.

Cllr Jack Foster, Chairman of the council's Planning and Environment Committee, said; "We had a decision to take and we took it on what we believe were legitimate grounds.

"We felt the problems caused by traffic in this area would be exacerbated by this development, but others obviously felt agreeing to the nursery was the right thing to do," he added.

The nursery will be built in a specially designed new building which will be sited on the school's land off Dobson Road, adjoining the main School campus.

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