A 100-year-old community hall is being reopened as a nursery following a £60,000 revamp.

The timber hall in Church Road, Murston, is set to open in the first half of 2021 after its refurbishment is complete, and will aim to look after around 70 children.

The project is being undertaken by John and Jamelia Osman, who already run Goldilocks Nursery in Ashford, after the couple secured a long-term lease from Kent Council Council, who own the building.

After approval from the authority the duo are planning on installing new cladding, renewing the plumbing and electricity and removing some of the hedging to make way for a newly surfaced car park.

The Osman's are hoping the new nursery will be up and running by Easter and employ 10 full-time staff and up to three part-time staff.

John Osman said: “The car park will be available for parents dropping off and collecting their children. Church Road is quite narrow at that point and we want to try to alleviate traffic problems if we can.

“We are also going to offer the use of the car park on Sundays to the church next door, for similar reasons.”

'We are looking forward to building a good relationship with our immediate neighbours and the whole of the Murston community.'

While Jamelia Osman added: “We know there is a demand for nursery provision in the area and it is well known that good early years provision will help young children progress more quickly when they move into primary school.

“We are looking forward to building a good relationship with our immediate neighbours and the whole of the Murston community.”

The news of the reopening nursery comes after counters criticism from Swale councillor James Hall (Swale Independents Alliance, Murston) who complained the building was being “wrecked”.

He also suggested nursery plans last year had “hit the buffers”, and it would cost £20,000 to remove asbestos in the walls and that he did not know what workmen were doing on the site in November.

However, a KCC spokesman hit back at the claims, saying: “Cllr Hall has known all along that KCC planned to reopen the nursery as soon as we felt we had found the right operator.

“He also chose to complain through the media about a lack of information, instead of asking the council.

“Mr and Mrs Osman have committed a lot of effort and resources into getting the nursery up and running again and we have every confidence that they will make a success of it.”

Cllr Hall squashed any claims he had known about plans to reopen the nursery.

He said: "I've never known all along and only found out when Times Guardian approached me for a comment.

"I was a bit upset about the work being done, trees being cut down etcetera, and the times it was happening, but it's because we were left in the dark.

"I'm delighted that Murston is finally getting a nursery as I've been working for years to get something like this.

"It's brilliant for the community and if it is a success but I just don't get why the plans seemed to be so hide and seek."

Kent County Council's Sittingbourne North councillor Jason Clinch backed Cllr Hall after his comment that people didn't know what was going on with the site.

He said: "The building had been empty for a long time and myself and James sent several emails to council's director of infrastructure strategy but it came to nothing in the end and it seemed very illusive.

"We've never been told what was happening and have been kept in the dark."

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