ANGRY residents are campaigning against a house being turned into a nursery because they fear it will increase noise and traffic and could attract paedophiles.

Sunnyfields Day Nurseries Ltd has applied to Bromley Council for permission to turn residential house number 5 Pickhurst Park in Bromley into a nursery for up to 52 children.

Around 30 people living nearby have written to the council and more than 140 have signed a petition to oppose the application by Sunnyfields, which already runs two nurseries in the borough.

Mum-of-two Natalie Rooney, aged 30, said: “We think there will be traffic problems because of all the parents dropping off and picking up their children.

“We think there will be noise problems because the children will be playing outdoors. We are also worried that paedophiles will be attracted to the area to be close to the nursery.”

Shariff and Hussaina Syed, aged 69 and 61, live next door to number 5, and they fear paedophiles could move into the flats overlooking the property to be close to the children.

Mrs Syed, 61, said: “There are flats overlooking and people could move in there and watch the children. It is a possibility it could happen.”

Pickhurst Park residents were scheduled to meet a council planning officer on Friday morning to discuss their concerns, but the meeting had to be cancelled due to the officer being ill.

They have drawn up a list of objections to the application, including 14 concerns about the effect the nursery will have on traffic and parking.

They say: “The suggested four visitor parking spaces is not sufficient to cope, especially during the peak times of 7.30am to 9.30am and 4.30pm to 6.30pm.

“And visitors to the nursery will tend to ignore any parking facilities and park across residents’ driveways.”

They added: “Given the above points, this will cause the road to be gridlocked at peak times.”

They also complain that noise levels will be “greatly increased” due to the sound of cars during peak times and the children playing in the outside area.

There is no need for a new nursery in the area, they say, as their research has shown there are vacancies at two nearby nurseries.

One of the protestors, 43-year-old Alan Hodge, said: “We are worried some parents will drop their children off and then park in the road to commute into London for work.”

He added: “It’s not so much that we are objecting to a nursery in this area, we just think our road is the wrong site because it is too small.”

The council’s planning committee is expected to make a decision on the application next month.

Nobody from Sunnyfields was available to comment.