Our rear garden is fairly wide, but only about 26 feet from our sun lounge to the bottom fence. Behind it is the garden to what used to be the school caretaker's bungalow. The bungalow became unused and stood empty for a few years until it was (leased?) to be converted into a day nursery, about 3 years ago. We did not object at the time, as we understood that it would be for children of pre-school age. We are the most affected house, so no support would have been forthcoming anyhow.
Now, for the second year, the attendance has been increased to include a 'holiday club', taking in children up to 11 years of age. What is the definition of "Day Nursery"?
This has increased the incidence of toys, plastic building bricks and other items being thrown further into our garden, the older children are noisier, and the 'ammunition' getting larger.
During the recent hot weather, we were unable to open our French windows because of the noise (being closed doesn't exclude it) and there is a regular banging similar to the sound of beating on a tea chest.
Another problem is that, having promised my wife that I would buy her a miniature Dacshund pup, I have now put the promise on hold because I have realised that we could not let it into our garden due to the risk of it picking up a small plastic moulding, or even a sharp piece of broken toy, and possibly choking on it.
We would not chance an animal being put at such risk (it would devastate us, apart from a possible vet bill running into hundreds of pounds), but I have wondered if the day nursery operators would be liable for causing such an injury. I also woner if the local authority have been guilty of neglecting the proper considerations of affected residents in allowing this use of the property.
All this means that we cannot use our garden in a manner that a homeowner should naturally be able to do.
I have asked our local councillor to look into the problem, but in all honesty, the layout of the adjacent residential homes does not truly lend itself to this use of the bungalow being suitable.
We are assuming that the councillor will probably be pushed into a position where he will have to yield to higher authority. What could we do then? Not a nice situation for a couple in advancing years. I once heard the expression, "when you get old, people don't notice you". Seems true!
Now, for the second year, the attendance has been increased to include a 'holiday club', taking in children up to 11 years of age. What is the definition of "Day Nursery"?
This has increased the incidence of toys, plastic building bricks and other items being thrown further into our garden, the older children are noisier, and the 'ammunition' getting larger.
During the recent hot weather, we were unable to open our French windows because of the noise (being closed doesn't exclude it) and there is a regular banging similar to the sound of beating on a tea chest.
Another problem is that, having promised my wife that I would buy her a miniature Dacshund pup, I have now put the promise on hold because I have realised that we could not let it into our garden due to the risk of it picking up a small plastic moulding, or even a sharp piece of broken toy, and possibly choking on it.
We would not chance an animal being put at such risk (it would devastate us, apart from a possible vet bill running into hundreds of pounds), but I have wondered if the day nursery operators would be liable for causing such an injury. I also woner if the local authority have been guilty of neglecting the proper considerations of affected residents in allowing this use of the property.
All this means that we cannot use our garden in a manner that a homeowner should naturally be able to do.
I have asked our local councillor to look into the problem, but in all honesty, the layout of the adjacent residential homes does not truly lend itself to this use of the bungalow being suitable.
We are assuming that the councillor will probably be pushed into a position where he will have to yield to higher authority. What could we do then? Not a nice situation for a couple in advancing years. I once heard the expression, "when you get old, people don't notice you". Seems true!