Doubt over nursery opening due to crossing delays

The Roundhouse received planning permission in 2016

A nursery within a new community leisure centre cannot open until a nearby pedestrian crossing has been installed, the health minster has said.

Lawrie Hooper said the £10m Roundhouse project was "not compliant with the law", but Braddan Commissioners said it had been working with the infrastructure department to find a suitable design for 14 months.

The delay means a lease for the unit cannot be issued, preventing Little Cherubs nursey from registering to operate.

Owner Theresa Barton said it had been a "difficult period" for the company who had created an extra 50 nursery places in anticipation of the new space opening in December.

She said the firm were now trying to accommodate parents' needs at their existing Union Mills site by reducing the number of days of care available to some families.

Parents hoping to enrol their children had been left "upset and anxious" by the delay, she said.

A crossing on Braddan Road was a condition of the Roundhouse's approval

Commissioners chairman Andrew Jessopp told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the authority was "powerless" until the design for the crossing on Braddan Road, which was a condition of the project's approval in 2017, was signed off.

The commissioners were also given notice that vehicles would be banned from using roads on the Noble's Hospital estate to access the Roundhouse.

Although the board told the health department in August the it could not afford the £185,000 needed for separate dedicated access road on Ballaoates Road, which was given planning permission in May, it had since made provision for the spending as part of a 36% rate rise.

Mr Jessopp said the authority was now waiting for the transfer of the land from the health department so that the feasibility of the project could be checked.

However, Mr Hooper said that access to the development was a "separate and distinct issue" from the crossing south of the hub.