A community group representing a North York Moors village seeking to attract more families is battling a proposal to change the use of a redundant church to create a nursery and creche.
Oswaldkirk Parish Meeting has urged members of the North York Moors National Park Authority to reject the plan for the former St Aidan’s Roman Catholic Chapel of Ease, off Main Street, saying it would exacerbate road safety issues on a busy route where motorists routinely speed.
After the Catholics of Hovingham, Nunnington, Oswaldkirk and Stonegrave came together to raise the then considerable sum of £11,270 for the building and car park in the 1960s, it was blessed by Abbot Basil Hume.
In the decades since residents of the village featuring a limited number of driveways have used land outside the former church as “overflow parking” and it has also been routinely used a pull-in spot for bus services.
An application lodged with the authority, which will be considered on Thursday (July 11) states there will be limited changes to the external appearance of the building, including the removal its religious symbol.
However, following the Diocese of Middlesbrough closing the church in 2020 and selling the site, the proposal states the seven parking spaces on site “will remain in operation”.
The application states: “It is considered that the existing number of parking spaces will be adequate to serve the proposed day nursery both in terms of visitors and staff.
“Given that the property is located in very close proximity to a local centre it is considered that the change of use would not intensify the number of trips to the site significantly.”
The proposal follows North Yorkshire Council approving a plan to relocate the village playground amid concerns over the existing facility not being sufficiently safe.
The meeting was told some residents viewed the playground proposal as “crucial for fostering social interaction and unity among all residents and its benefits far outweigh the concerns of a minority”.
A resident told the meeting last month how there were few families left in Oswaldkirk and a safe and secure playground in the village centre would help attract new families and help boost the village hall’s viability.
Nevertheless, a majority of a village meeting called over the creche proposal voted to object to it, saying it would introduce extra traffic onto Main Street, raising road safety hazards at peak times on “an already congested roadway”.
The parish meeting concluded the proposal would not provide sufficient parking spaces.
The Oswaldkirk Parish Meeting objection states despite having repeatedly reported the issue of speeding to Ryedale District Council, speed limits continue to be “routinely ignoted by motorists”.
It states: “There is a 30mph limit in place in Oswaldkirk. However, enforcement has been non-existent, and as a result traffic speed regularly and consistently exceeds the limit.
“The police have not positioned their speed cameras in the village or on the approaches to it.”
However, North Yorkshire Council’s highways officers have concluded the proposals are unlikely to create “an unacceptable impact on highway safety and the residual impacts on the road network would not be considered severe”.
In its response to the proposal, highways officers stated increased use of the site as a creche could be managed by a drop-off and pick-up plan.
The highways officers added: “The majority of traffic generated by the site is limited to short periods in the day as children are dropped off and later collected from the nursery.”
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