Piplings nursery

[HR]

Sglanzer-please can you pass these concerns onto TLERA. This is frighteningly unrepresentative. Ask them to STOP this absurdity now! Thank you.

[Sunworshipper]

Many many thanks to all those who have taken the time to post messages of support.

As parents of children who attend Piplings, we feel very strongly about the nursery and would be devastated if this valuable community resource has to close ? not just because it would be difficult to find alternative childcare in an area where it is sorely lacking but because Piplings offers something so very special.

Please visit our website at www.friendsofpiplings.org for further information and to sign our petition.

Thank you again for your support, it means a great deal to us.

Friends of Piplings

[ladywotlunches]

Wow, I've seen that there have been almost 2,000 views of this thread. And already some visits to the Friends of Piplings site and signatures on the e-petition. Thank you everyone, keep them coming!

Have just tried to change the title of the thread a little to ask for more help. Hope no-one minds (and I hope the OP doesn't mind us having hijacked this thread?!)

[ISALB]

I think the local residents have been very unfairly portrayed in this and other threads and there is a great deal of spin/manipulation of the truth going on. I know some of them and they are lovely people, not in the least child haters. I am well placed to know this as i have young children and live near the nursery.

[simonethebeaver]

The opponents of the nursery posting on SE23.com are giving an appalling impression of themselves. They sound rude, hysterical and very much anti-children.

[Smiler]

What do the local councillors have to say about this?

[ladywotlunches]

I'm not sure that the local councillors can (or want to) get involved now. They were involved at the planning stage, and granted permission for this nursery to open in 2010.

Since that stage, rather than appealing the decision with the planning department, the objectors have chosen to use the covenant route to try and close the nursery, so its a legal matter rather than a council one.

[JessicaC]

Hi

I haven?t posted about this before but wanted to contribute a little info that may be helpful to those interested..

a) Yes, it?s a detached house

b) Not all neighbours are concerned about noise/nuisance ? only about 3 (it seems) houses have made a complaint (not to the nursery but to the Council). There are at least another 4 or 5 houses that back on to the nursery that have never complained ? some have also been asked in person about this.

c) The Council has acted on the complaint(s) ? the emails I have seen show that the Council has monitored the nursery for noise/nuisance and responded to the residents late in 2011. The Council said that they have not been able to find evidence to support the complaints

d) So..the noise/nuisance issue does not seem to be key and unanimous issue. Doesn?t legal action to close the nursery on this basis seem extreme? It does not seem to represent the views of other neighbours.

e) If the noise isn?t the issue, what is? There are concerns that allowing this ?business? to continue to operate would lead to more businesses and alter the character of the neighbourhood (stated in a recent newsletter from the Resident?s Association) ? but shouldn?t this be looked at the other way round? Legal action against this single business has immediate implications for the existing businesses on the hill (like the gardeners, the fast food company, childminders etc) ? the Resident's Association needs to meet to decide if it is actually opposed to businesses on the hill in general.

f) So, is this a noise/nuisance issue? the council and other neighbours do not believe so. In which case it seems to be a principled objection to a business. If TLERA members (and is has to be members) can email the Chairman asap at [email protected] to request a Special General Meeting then we may be able to finally understand exactly what the problem is and how it might be solved to everyone?s satisfaction without legal action which, technically, would terminate the activities of everyone with a business in the Tewkesbury Lodge Estate. The Resident's Association has indeed asked for input from its membership on this legal issue (which has not been discussed thus far) so I am just re-iterating.

[walkinthepark38]

Very helpful, thanks for the summary, JessicaC! If this nursery should get closed down, it could set an alarming precedent for other nurseries in our area. Can they all be forced out of residential roads, even if the Council doesn't see a noise or nuisance issue, if some other legal tool can be found? Where should they be then? In shopping centres or on trafficy roads?

If there are any more supporters for the cause of Piplings nursery out there, please register your support - we have signed the e-petition on

www.friendsofpiplings.org

[dansus]

Do i read that they plan to move the nursery to the Elms? If so that seems an ideal solution to all this, the Elms looks like a perfect place for a nursery.

[friendofpiplings100]

Thanks Dansus, for posting your supportive comment on www.friendsofpiplings.org. You may not see the reply to you there, so I include it here for you.

You are right ? no-one should believe that a community has no opinion on a new service opening within it, and care should be taken to keep that community informed and involved. The Nursery has tried hard to do that.

Of course what you won?t know is that the owner spoke personally with local neighbours before she opened the Nursery, and everyone told her they were happy with her plans! The owner also tried to present her plans to the local resident?s assocition, but was told they weren?t interested!

The ?comments? that have come since then are completely unsubstantiated comments e.g. some neighbours complain the nursery causes traffic congestion ? but there hasn?t been one single complaint to Lewisham Environmental or Planning about the so-called ?traffic congestion? since planning permission was granted ? as evidenced by a local councillor?s direct query to Lewisham Council. The nursery owner did make a number of time-lapse films of the traffic flows at drop-off and pick-up times and these films clearly show congestion claims to be empty and therefore just ever-so-slightly malicious. We hope these films will be uploaded to YouTube shortly.

Thanks for your post!

[Mum2015]

Post removed by me (Family Room Moderator) on request of the nursery involved.

[alimc]

I know so many people who have had terrible experience with the management at Piplings with very similar experiences as described above such as being ignored. I considered sending my little one but did not like how the management treated me before I started. Their communication is horrendous and frankly quite odd. I hear the carers are great though.

[Sunlover00]

Admin isn't greatest but i cant fault the care and attention my daughter gets. She's been attending the nursery for 2 years and loves it.

[simonethebeaver]

I'm afraid the experiences I had with the admin here went far beyond inept, and I couldn't recommend it to anyone. Mum2015, lodge a claim for your deposit with the small claims' court. This has been a successful way of getting the deposit back for Piplings parents. You can file quickly and easily online.

[Mum2015]

Thank you simonethebeaver. I will definitely do it.

[Family Room Moderator]

I have removed a post at the request of Piplings nursery.

[Jemmarc]

We have been on their waiting list for quite some time and were led to expect a place in April this year but Piplings have recently sent an email to all parents on the waiting list to say that there aren't any places before Sept 2016 (unless of course any current children leave).

I think you have to pay to be on the waiting list so make your own mind up if you need a place before Sept 2016...

I had also heard negative things about the admin and that was before this latest update from them.

[moak]

How do you get hold of them? Their number is not on the website (that i noticed anyway) and I filled and sent an enquiry form about 2 weeks ago.

[Pickle11]

I have had the same experience as Jemmarc. Was led to believe we would be very likely to have a place for April 2015 when I handed over my ?40 in July 2014 (when my daughter was 6 weeks old) but recently received email about not being able to see any availability until September 2016. My experience of the admin has been poor (could not get response to email/voicemail/enquiry forms between beginning of November and end of January) although there have been a few comms recently so perhaps it is improving (sadly, availability is not it seems!).