A proposal to turn an industrial unit on the Whitehouse industrial area into a new gym have been backed by Ipswich planners.

The unit, on the junction of Whitehouse Road and Goddard Road can become a new fitness centre after the move was backed by members of the borough’s planning and development committee on Wednesday.

However an application to convert a former hostel opposite the YMCA in Norwich Road, into a children’s nursery was turned down because of the poor road access and lack of parking.

Members of the committee backed concerns from Suffolk County Council’s highways department that parents dropping off or picking up children would not have room to park on the premises and could be tempted to park illegally on the busy Norwich Road.

The application for the nursery was decisively rejected by the committee although the members did not feel it would conflict with the site’s status as being in a conservation area.