A NEW £170,000 nursery school will open near Appleby early next year with the creation of four full-time childcare jobs, if plans get the go-ahead.

The nursery could open by March on the site of Bolton Primary School and provide five-day, 8am to 6pm childcare for up to 26 children, under plans before Eden District Council.

Organiser Dani Leslie said rumours of the plans for children, aged from three months to four years, had already prompted interest: “We’re already getting inquiries from women in Appleby who are pregnant.” She said it could enable parents to get to work more easily or give them time to retrain.

Mrs Leslie said the service was needed as there was no day-care and a lack of childminders in the area, with the nearest day-care centres in Penrith.

She said six full-time staff would be needed to cope with the expanded facilities, including a sleeping room, playroom, kitchen and staffroom.

The Government gives every three-year-old child five two-and-a-half hour care sessions per week for 33 weeks of the year.

The present nursery provision in Appleby village hall offers only three sessions a week to 12 children due to other hall bookings.