Ely nursery withdraws forest school plan after several open up

The nursery said it would withdraw plans after several other forest schools opened

Plans for a forest school that would teach children to care for the environment have been dropped.

Cathedral View Childcare in Ely, Cambridgeshire, put forward a vision to create an outdoor school in a field near Willow Walk.

Proposals were submitted to East Cambridgeshire District Council last year.

The nursery now said it would withdraw the plans after several other forest schools opened.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the nursey said: "Since we first started the process to obtain a lease for the land a lot has changed.

"Several forest schools have since cropped up around the local area and we ourselves have just opened a second day nursery.

"The need that was there back in 2022 when we began this process no longer exists as other businesses have managed to set up at a far faster pace, be that with or without the required permissions."

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Plans originally stated that the forest school would be run as an extension to the existing nursery, with additional sessions offered to children who did not attend the nursery.

The nursery said it had wanted to open a forest school to teach children to "respect, care and understand nature", which it said was "key to ensuring the next generation commit to greener, more eco-friendly choices".