Staff at a nursery which closed its doors last week after 49 years have spoken of the “chaos” surrounding its final months.

Shepcot House Pre-School, which opened as an official nursery in 1967, shut on Friday with the loss of seven full time jobs, due to planned regeneration of the New Avenue estate, of which it is part.

They say they were told last November the rebuilding of the outdated estate would start across the road from them in December 2016, making running a nursery impossible as it would be opposite a building site.

Staff say they decided to close in July, but have now heard the building work is not scheduled to start this year anymore, and when the work is complete there are no plans for a nursery to be included.

Ann Wilson, who worked at the pre-school for 32 years, said it started as a free drop-in service, but had evolved into a fully-fledged nursery, and they were proud of never having turned a child away.

She said: “This estate had a reputation, we fought against that and built this up, it always ran with full numbers. The parents bringing their kids here were at nursery here themselves.

“When the demolition starts, the first houses to be knocked down are directly opposite us. We spoke to Ofsted and they said they would not register us.

“We asked the council officer if a nursery would be included in the new plans. He just put his head down.

“The delay is very disappointing; we could have carried on for at least another year to ease the disruption. If we knew they had no start date, definitely we would have stayed. We feel deceived.”

Pre-school manager Susan Way called the council and developer’s attitude “very nasty”, and said people had turned up at the centre the previous week to collect the keys before they have even shut.

She said: “Emotionally it has just wrecked us. We have had an amazing team, like a family.

“When we told people, the children cried, the parents were in a right state.

“Even if a private nursery is included in the plans, will parents be able to afford it? This is not a wealthy estate.”

Enfield Council spokesperson Andrew Golder said they understand all parents were aware of the pre-school closing, and they will work with staff to find them alternative jobs and make sure all children effected will be provided for by September.

He said: “The building work at the New Avenue Estate was designed to ensure a new nursery on the estate would be built and operational before the existing nursery had to close.

“The management of the existing nursery were aware of the plan but chose to close ahead of schedule, in part, because they did not wish to provide the extended hours they would be required to offer when they moved into the new building."