The Lighthouse Nursery at Halls Farm House has applied to keep a capacity of 42 children against a planning limit of 18. Comments close 14 October. Ofsted's record is here too.

A Bromley day nursery has asked the council to let it keep looking after 42 children at a time. Its planning limit is 18.

The application covers The Lighthouse Nursery at Halls Farm House, Milk Street, about a mile north of the town centre near Sundridge Park. Bromley Council registered it on 18 September under reference 26/03677/FPA. The council’s own description is “retention of the increased capacity of existing Day Nursery from 18 children to 42 children” (Bromley planning register, via PlanIt).

The word “retention” matters. It means the nursery is asking for permission for a change that has already happened, not one it is planning.

What the council has to decide

  • The decision will be made by officers, not councillors. The register lists it as a delegated decision (PlanIt record).
  • Comments close on 14 October 2026. That is also the council’s target date for a decision.
  • The application carries 18 documents. The council’s register only opens with JavaScript, so we link the record here rather than quoting from the plans: 26/03677/FPA on planningaccess.bromley.gov.uk.
  • The ward is Plaistow.

Why the number is 18

The nursery use itself was contested from the start. Bromley refused a change of use of the ground floor of Halls Farm House from a home to a children’s nursery under reference DC/08/03312/FULL2. A planning inspector allowed it on appeal in January 2010, with a condition that the use could not begin until a new footpath had been built (Bromley Council enforcement report DRR13/101, September 2013).

The same 2013 report records a run of complaints from neighbours in Autumn Grove, the estate built on land that was once part of the farm. They covered fences, gates, the footpath and CCTV. Councillors on Plans Sub-Committee No. 3 authorised enforcement action on 5 September 2013 against four pole-mounted cameras in the front and rear gardens, and no further action on the rest (decision record).

The 18-child limit is the figure the council gives in its own description of the new application. The 2010 appeal decision itself is not among the documents we could read today.

What Ofsted’s register says

Planning and Ofsted are two separate regimes, and the two sets of numbers do not match.

  • Ofsted registered The Lighthouse Nursery Bromley Limited on 18 March 2022, as full day care on non-domestic premises (Ofsted, URN 2674649).
  • At its only routine inspection, on 13 June 2024, the nursery was rated Good in every area. The report records a total of 27 places and 51 children on roll, aged one to five at the time. It was open 7.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday, with 15 staff, 13 of them working with children (Ofsted inspection report, published 16 July 2024).
  • Ofsted took compliance action this month. Its notice, dated 18 September 2026, says it received concerns on 18 June 2026 about “other legal duties” and on 25 June about “a separate matter with relation to concerns about children’s safety and welfare”. Inspectors made a regulatory visit on 3 September and “found the provider was not meeting some of the requirements”. Two actions were set: to ensure children always sleep on a firm flat surface, and to ensure equipment used for children’s care routines is fit for purpose, age-appropriate and safe (Ofsted compliance notice).
  • Ofsted says the actions have been met. The provider responded on 9 September. Ofsted “found that the provider had reviewed arrangements” so that children sleep in safe, age-appropriate equipment, and states it is “satisfied the provider has met the safeguarding and welfare actions raised”. The nursery remains registered. Ofsted publishes compliance actions for five years.

The nursery’s own September 2024 welcome pack describes the building as an 18th-century farmhouse and as Grade I listed. The council’s 2013 report calls it a detached house, and a search of the national listed-building data at the nursery’s postcode on the government’s planning data platform returned no entry. We have asked neither side about that and report only what the records say.

The operating company, The Lighthouse Nursery Bromley Limited, was incorporated on 23 March 2017 and is active (Companies House, 10688298).

What it means for you

If you are a parent at the nursery, Ofsted’s registration and rating are unchanged. The planning application decides how many children the building may take under planning law, not whether the nursery can operate.

If you live on Milk Street, Autumn Grove or nearby, the planning question is about the effect of 42 children rather than 18: traffic at drop-off and pick-up on an unadopted road, parking, and noise. Comments go to the council through its planning register before 14 October, quoting 26/03677/FPA. Our planning applications guide explains how to comment and what officers can and cannot take into account.

If you are reading the Ofsted notice, it is a record of concerns raised, a visit, actions set and actions met. It is not an inspection and it did not change the Good rating.

We will report the council’s decision when it is published. The nursery and the council have not been asked to comment for this report; both are welcome to add a response, which we will publish in full.

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