A PRE-school struggling against planning regulations to build its own facilities was offered a lifeline this week.

The possibility of building an extension to the village hall instead of on an existing car park was discussed when Welland and Little Malvern Parish Council met on Monday.

A dozen supporters attended the meeting to seek advice on how best to proceed.

Parish clerk David Sharp said the latest proposal was the most likely solution but any development in the car park would require additional parking to be built at the front of the hall.

Welland Pre-School currently meets in the dining hall at the village primary school and had wanted permission to build new premises on the school car park.

A planning application and subsequent appeal was rejected because two trees on the site are protected by a preservation order and are considered to hold high amenity value.

Mr Sharp said he was disappointed that permission had not been granted for the original application.

"Although we understand that several members of the village wrote in support of the trees we feel this is rather short sighted of the authorities when the life span of the trees is only 10-20 years," he said.

Pre-school chairman Sarah Husband hopes a solution can be found, so the project can get under way as quickly as possible.

"Ideally we'd wanted to be a part of the primary school," she said. "But this way, as well as creating premises for the pre-school, we'd be creating a larger village hall for the community to use."