Ely nursery drops plans for forest school as others have opened up

A nursery has dropped plans to open a new forest school where it had hoped to teach children to care for the environment and learn in a “natural setting”.

Cathedral View Childcare Ltd, which runs an existing nursery in Ely, had proposed to create the forest school in a field off Willow Walk.

But it has abandoned the idea because a number of other forest schools have now opened up.

The nursery submitted its proposals for a forest school to East Cambridgeshire District Council for approval last year. It was planned as an extension to the existing nursery, with additional sessions to be offered to children who did not attend it.

It was intended to teach children to “respect, care and understand nature”, which it said was “key to ensuring the next generation commit to greener, more eco-friendly choices”.

But withdrawing the plans, the nursery said: “Since we first started the process with East Cambridgeshire District Council to obtain a lease for the land a lot has changed.

“Several forest schools have since cropped up around the local area and we ourselves have just opened a second day nursery.

“The need that was there back in 2022 when we began this process no longer exists as other businesses have managed to set up at a far faster pace, be that with or without the required permissions. As such, we would like to withdraw the application.”