Proposals to turn an old community centre into a brand new nursery in one area of Wishaw has formally been given the green light by council planners.
The decision by North Lanarkshire Council’s (NLC) planning department officially gives the go ahead for construction to begin.
The planning department’s report states: “Although the community centre is within the Green Belt, this reflects the fact that the urban boundary runs along Main Street and does not include the handful of buildings on the north side of the street.
“The re-use of the redundant community centre as a nursery does not conflict with Green Belt objectives, and the proposal does not amount to a material change of use.
“The only works taking place within the Green Belt would be a small rear extension to the building and the conversion of the existing car park to a playground.
“The proposed new car park would be no larger than needed for the nursery and its layout has been designed in order to avoid the loss of existing trees, whilst the changes to the existing building and car park would be of a minor nature.
“Overall the proposal is considered to be of an appropriate quality which would not detract from the amenity of the area.”
The refurbishment of the Wishawhill facility into a family learning centre will make available space for 40 FTE nursery provision for three to five-year-olds and eligible children aged two.
Motherwell South East and Ravenscraig councillor, Nathan Wilson, said: “All of the other new build 1140 hour nursery projects in North Lanarkshire are ahead of Wishawhill and putting in place a target completion date was crucial to providing some certainty on when the early years centre in the local area might be ready.
“It is very welcome that this clarity has now been provided with the refurbishment of the Wishawhill Community Centre into a new nursery complex expected to begin in February and for the work to be complete by July.”
