The owner of a Crayford childcare centre is upset her planning permission request was rejected, involving an area of green belt land where hundreds of houses have already been built.

Sheonalli Malhotra, 37, set up Gaggle last September, in the ground floor of her house on Lower Station Road.

She and her seven staff currently look after 23 children, but to accommodate more she needs a purpose built nursery.

Her request for a two-storey building in her garden was rejected by Bexley Council, but only after they charged £2,695 in fees, which Mrs Malhotra described as "daylight robbery".

The mum-of-one said: "I cannot run out of my house forever. I need to move out of my house and into something purpose built.

"It’s open land, they have put it in green belt but they built 180 houses in 2005.

"Now I am just asking them to build a simple two floor building."

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Mrs Malhotra said she cannot run out of the ground floor of her house 'forever'

Mrs Malhotra said there are currently no other nurseries in Crayford, or in neighbouring Erith and Slade Green, creating problems for working parents.

She added: "I am hearing from new parents how much of a problem they face.

"Especially the women, it’s tough.

"There is no place for the children to go, no children’s facility for early years."

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Mrs Malhotra’s application was rejected under section 9 on March 31, after less than a month of consideration.

She said: "We will go to appeal but only after we have gathered enough support.

"Then the council should come to the table to discuss the needs of the local demands.

"There has to be a nursery. Any kind of nursery, even if it is a little smaller.

"Where more and more housing is being built, there are absolutely no nurseries."

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Bexley Coun for Crayford John Davey said: "It is always unfortunate when childcare planning applications are turned down as we need more of these to help get people back into work.

"However, I sit on the Planning Committee and you have to balance the positives with the negatives.

"In this case, looking after our green belt is also a top priority.

"An applicant can always appeal a decision if they wish and in some cases they overturn the Planning Committee's decisions."

Gaggle is a private, Ofsted registered childcare premises, open Monday to Friday, 7.30am to 7pm, and currently cares for five-month-old babies to four-year-old kids.

You can support their petition here.