2registered childminders working together in Wales

[Catz3613]

Hi my self and my mother are both registered childminders and work together 5 days a week. We have been working together for over 1 year so are relatively new to it.

We are registered to mind in total 6 children under the ages of 8 years. my 3 year old daughter is included in the ratios. We are currently seeking advice to see if it s possible to maximise our number of minded children from 6. The reason we want to do this is for me and my husband to have more children of our own ( as their counted in the ratios) and to still have 6 minded children.

I have spoken with my inspector who says I need to talk with the council regarding planning etc. with doing this the council said that if I do this We will no longer be childminders and will be registered as a Nursery. After explaining this to my inspector she says this is not the case as in order to have a nursery, it can't be in a residential property ( nobody seems to be giving me any help)

The inspector then said that I should re- measure the space available for the children. I did this and by going by the standards (space for each child) we are able to fit 10 children.
Still no feedback has been given to us and nobody seems to know what to say or do

Has anybody been or s going through the same thing?
Any advice, tips etc would be great and I would appreciate it

Thank you

Not in Wales, but I simply got planning permission for 12 children for DH and I. Some people have been able to do it without planning permission. We are still childminders and not a nursery.

Not in Wales either, but I am allowed 6 children on my own, so I would have thought 2 of you should easily be allowed more. Unless you meant 6 under 5's rather than 6 under 8's?

The planning department didn't mean you would have to register with CSSIW as a nursery, they meant you would be treated for planning purposes as a nursery. Unlike childcare there is no national regulatory body for planning - local authorities interpret the law in their own way, and have their own local frameworks which set out policies.

Find out what the planning department are going to require for a change of use application: the main issues are likely to be parking and noise. Your MP may be able to help if they are obstructive.

Yes MrA - Parking - My planning dept tried to convince me I needed to paint parking spaces on my drive (I talked them out of it). They did talk to a couple of neighbours about noise and one of them objected to my application (even though they are out at work all day - sniggering about the new neighbours they have with REALLY noisy children who are in the garden all evening and weekend). Others said it was good security having a neighbour around during the day.

Yes was thinking that they may have ment parking and noise. But as for parking there won't me any more cars arriving at the property as the only reason I want to maximize my numbers is for me to have more children of my own. Thank u all for ur comments I've been phoning all week but nobody there that can help ATM so hopefully within the month somebody will be there to answer me. Fingers crossed. Thank u