I became aware of the nursery because of the planning application submitted on 17th Feb 2010 at this time I do not believe there were more than 6 children at day care at Piplings (please correct me if I am mistaken), I believe the same is true at the target date for a decision on the 26th April 2010. Between then and September 2010 numbers of children slowly increased (without planning permission having been decided).

In May 2010 I got round to submitting my personal response to the application, in favour of planning permission being granted, and pointing out that it was in line with all relevant Lewisham policies.

By June 2010 I assume that the officer had provided fairly positive feedback to the owners on the likelihood of planning permissions being granted. That was certainly the impression I got when I visited the nursery in June 2010 and decided with my wife that it was the best we had visited in Forest Hill. In August we registered my daughter to start at the nursery in the spring of 2011.

By November 2010, when the planning report was finally written and sent to planning committee, Piplings were operating at close to their projected numbers. This allowed the officers to monitor traffic on the road prior to permission being granted and 'have not witnessed any undue problems that could be seen as prejudicial to the free flow of traffic along this residential street which, incidentally, is very light'. Had Piplings not been operating as a nursery no such assessment would have been possible.

Most nurseries are entitled to terminate provision with one month notice. I agree this is far from ideal for parents or children, but is probably the only workable business model for any business.

I do not believe Piplings took any undue risks in increasing the numbers over the course of 2010 after the application target date. I would not recommend this course of action for any business or resident seeking planning permission, but I do not accept that the owners acted irresponsibly and selfishly.

As for the impact of the covenant, I think that neither the owners nor the neighbours were aware of this restriction until after the planning application had been decided.