Inverness planning application lodged with Highland Council seeks to turn former 28-bed care home in Ballifeary into children’s nursery
A long-vacant former care home in Inverness could be set for a new life as a children's nursery in order to meet growing demand for childcare.
The owners of 7 Ballifeary Road are seeking planning permission to change the use of the two-storey building to a children's nursery and proposed manager's flat.
The former care home had 28 bedrooms for residents, and would undergo internal remodelling to merge some of these into larger rooms for various childcare purposes.
In documents submitted alongside the application, applicant Wee Buttons Childcare argues that the site - which has been vacant for almost six years - would be better suited towards childcare in the wake of increasing housing development in the Scorguie and Ness Castle areas.
Their agent, Blueprint Architecture, also stressed that their client “does not consider the current [care home] use to be viable and is aware that when the building was a nursing home there were issues with finding suitably qualified, local staff”,
And they added that “increasingly onerous demands from the Care Commission” also harmed its viability as a care home facility, and that in the years it had lain vacant it had attracted vandalism.
In a supporting statement issued with the application, Wee Buttons Childcare, said: "7 Ballifeary Road has been vacant for almost six years, I propose with the change of use to create a nursery that I will provide families in Inverness with full and part-time childcare provisions, for children aged 0-5, 5 days a week, all year round.
"The nursery will also provide a holiday club for children during the school holidays and have provisions to rent out rooms to local businesses and people to operate groups or classes such as mummy and toddler, Makaton, and Gaelic speaking groups.
"The recent expansion of areas like Scorguie and Ness Castle has created new housing developments but there is limited childcare available across the whole of Inverness.
"By establishing a nursery, I can help meet this demand and provide parents with a trusted and reliable place to entrust the care of their children.
"The large proposed premises not only can provide childcare but can employ many staff, therefore, supporting the local economy. Opening this childcare nursery in this existing building creates many job opportunities within the community.
"By granting this change of use, I hope to provide a safe and nurturing environment for the children of Inverness and surrounding areas, with incredible natural garden areas and purposely renovated rooms.
"The nursery will support families, create new jobs in the area and give local groups a safe and purposely made area to enjoy and use."
If approved, the building's internal ground floor layout would be altered to create four rooms for different childcare age groups - babies, tweenies, babies or tweenies, and toddlers - as well as a dining room, soft play area, cloakroom, sleep room, baby change area and hall, among others. Part of the ground floor would also be modified to create a manager's flat with bathroom, lounge, and kitchen, and access to three bedrooms on the first floor.
The upstairs meanwhile, would be reconfigured to provide two pre-school rooms as well as an art room, soft play room, cloakroom, toilets, staff toilets, staff room, as well as the three bedrooms of the manager's flat.
Externally an area would be fenced off to form an outdoor play area. Covered cycle and buggy parking would also be erected, but the building’s exterior would otherwise remain as is.
The applicant’s agent argued that the “existing vehicle access and proposed increase in off-street parking spaces is suitable for a nursery use” and that a one-way system is planned for the site “to ensure the smooth flow of vehicles entering and exiting”.
And they claimed that they do not foresee any increase in traffic visiting the site compared to what entered and exited when it was still in use as a care home.
They continued: “To mitigate a build up in traffic during busier times phased drop off strategy will be adopted between 7am and 9:30am and a phased pick up of times between 3pm and 6pm.”
