Ahead of Thursday’s planning meeting, our reasons for supporting the plans submitted for the redevelopment of the Bull pub and new nursery are as follows:

The nursery, which had to move from Cholesbury Village Hall, is a proven
success, highly rated by Ofsted, and presently caters for over 100
children in providing nursery and after school activities. All children are
from no more than a 3.5 mile radius and, given the ongoing demand, will be
able to increase numbers of both children and staff. There is a desperate
shortage of such facilities within the county and the management have
tried, unsuccessfully to find an alternative premises within a 5 mile
radius. Since all other nurseries within the area are full, there poses the
problem of accommodating children presently served by our village nursery
should it be forced to close.

Great efforts have been made to ensure that the new building is
environmentally friendly with a very low profile and a planted roof so will
sit quietly in the landscape.

The land on which it is proposed to build is presently ancillary commercial
pub land, is not accessed by public right of way nor can it be readily seen
from any adjacent right of way.

With the planned improvements to the pub, the managers will be able to
deliver children’s meals to the nursery which will not only greatly improve
the service but will provide a great basis for a sustainable business at
the pub.

Whilst as a group, we strongly support the preservation of the green belt,
we believe that a new building of this nature in this location will not
impinge greatly on the visual amenity, nor create any sort of precedent but
will provide two valuable community resources which are demonstrably
supported by the village.

The decision will be made by the full committee and we know that the
committee takes notice of a good show of support. So, if you are able to
attend this planning meeting, we would be delighted to have your support at
the planning meeting to consider the plans to be held THIS Thursday January 11th from 6:30pm at the Council Offices.

On behalf of The Save The Bull Group – Bellingdon savethebull@bellingdon.com