Tuesday July 8th 2025
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
A temporary school nursery building which was described as ‘not fit for purpose’ has been demolished ten years after its planning permission ran out.
Pencaitland Primary School nursery has been housed in the unit which was first put in place in 1994.
A planning application for permission to demolish the unit, a shed and bike storage to make way for a new, replacement unit on the site, which was submitted by East Lothian Council to its own planners, has been given the go ahead.
A report to council revealed that during the application process work to demolish the unit had taken place.
It said the nursery building, which was granted temporary permission to sit in the school playground in 1994 had asbestos, single glazed windows, poor thermal insulation and multiple repairs carried out over the years.
Planning permission for it ran out in 2014 and was not renewed but it continued to be used.
East Lothian Council said it was no longer fit for purpose and had become too small for the current nursery intake.
In a statement to planners asking for permission to knock it down, the council said: “It is now too small to house the number of children that are predicted to require nursery places in the next few years.”
Recommending the application for approval planners noted that although the nursery was in a conservation area it added nothing to the design of the school and its surroundings.
They said: “The nursery building was a temporary structure of no individual architectural merit and did not relate directly to the school building design or the wider area.
“It did not contribute positively to the character and appearance of the Conservation Area. The timber shed and bike shelter were modern structures, modest in scale and did not make a positive contribution to the character or appearance of the Conservation Area.”
The unit, shed and bike shelter have all been taken down to make room for the new bigger nursery unit planned for the playground. Retrospective Conservation Area Consent for their removal was granted by planning officers.
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