Plans to convert former library into nursery submitted

The building is being sold by the council having previously been closed last year as part of sweeping cuts to the library service in Enfield

Winchmore Hill Library (inset) is set to be converted into a nursery (credit Gautam Arora via Unsplash)

Plans have been submitted to convert a former library building into a children’s nursery.

Little Learners Nurseries Ltd is applying to Enfield Council to repurpose Winchmore Hill Library into a “day nursery and early years childcare facility”.

The building in Green Lanes is set to be sold by the council to Little Learners Nurseries, which is named in planning documents as the “preferred purchaser” for the site after it was put up for sale by the council earlier this year.

Winchmore Hill was one of seven libraries closed by the former Labour administration at Enfield Civic Centre in July 2025 – understood to be the highest number of libraries closed at any one time by a London borough council.

The plans submitted last month by Domenech Designs Ltd, on behalf of Little Learners Nurseries, state: “The proposal would respond to an identified local need for additional early years and childcare provision.

“The Enfield Council childcare sufficiency assessment identifies a shortfall in childcare places within the Winchmore Hill and Palmers Green areas. The proposed nursery would therefore contribute towards addressing an identified local demand for early years childcare provision and increase the availability of childcare places within an accessible local centre.”

Little Learners currently operates four nurseries across eastern Enfield.

The planning statement continues: “Delivery of additional early years childcare capacity in Winchmore Hill, supporting local working families [would be] consistent with the government’s expansion of funded early education entitlements.

“The proposed nursery use also reflects the community value associated with the reuse of the former Winchmore Hill Library building. The sale of the building to Little Learners Nurseries was approved by Enfield Council, with the applicant selected as the preferred purchaser. The selection recognised the nature of the proposed business as a children’s nursery and the associated community value that the use would provide.”

As well as the library, the site also previously hosted a fitness centre which has since been vacated. No major structural changes are proposed to be made to the building.

The plans state: “The proposed change of use does not involve any significant alterations to the existing building. The external works comprise the installation of skylights within the existing roof form to provide natural light to the internal spaces, the installation of tempered glass over the existing flat roof section, and the provision of two fire escape doors to the rear of the building.

“These works will be contained within the existing building envelope, and the overall scale, form and massing of the building will remain unchanged.”

For more information about the plans visit the council’s planning portal and enter reference number 26/03726/FUL.

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