SIR — I felt I must write to express my concern at the local planners' decision to refuse Cheeky Cherubs' relocation to Hillview Road (Free Press February 2).

Over the past four years I have used the existing nursery extensively. It offers wonderful childcare at affordable prices.

As Minehead and the surrounding locality has recently been officially identified as a low wage area, surely the service offered by this nursery should be considered as an essential service.

Although I understand the concerns of the residents of Hillview Road, perhaps they should consult the residential neighbours of Cheeky Cherubs in Irnham Road, who I believe have never found it necessary to complain about noise.

At the planning meeting planning officer John Gibbs stated "a nursery in Hillview Road would not be sustainable." Surely the viability of a business is not a planning issue.

It also seems surprising that the council had previously no problem granting planning permission for a nursery in a residential area for a ground floor flat in Irnham Road, but found it necessary to refuse permission for a semi-detached house in Hillview Road.

I might add that one of the reasons Minehead Town Council recommended this application for refusal was that that the house had stairs! Perhaps they don't realise that a lot of families live in houses with stairs.

The planning officer's report to the planning committee must have been negative enough to persuade the councillors to take his advice over that of Social Services and the many other professional bodies that had given this application their full support.

If Cheeky Cherubs were to close, apart from the loss of ten jobs, it would also create hardship for lots of local working families with young children, but then I suppose this wouldn't concern the planning officer or the councillors who sit on the planning committee, who are presumably not in this situation.

S A Rayner,

Sophie Rayner,

Bampton Street,

Minehead.