Flexible request due to relocation turned down: ask the expert

I am currently on maternity leave and due to return in April. Prior to being on maternity leave I worked full time hours, but had flexible working where I started early and finished early a couple of days a week. Since being on maternity leave the business has relocated. For me this will add at least an hour each way to my journey. Because of this, I had a meeting with my line manager requesting to change my working hours to enable me to still be able to take and collect my eldest daughter from school a couple of days a week. This wouldn’t be possible working my old hours, due to the additional travel time. In my new request I proposed working 1 day from home and the other days starting early and finishing early. I have had my request turned down for two reasons, 1)requires my presence in the office to meet reporting dates imposed therefore a fixed day working from home is not compatible 2) requires working closely with team especially when time pressured which will not happen if I finish early or work from home.
I feel I have a strong argument against both these issues, but would like another opinion. From Oct12-Mar13 the rest of my team relocated and I remained in the old building and therefore I spent 5-6 months working independently even with the time pressures and strict reporting dates. To me this demonstrates that if I worked from home 1 day a week, it would be no different to when I was separate to the rest of the team. My other argument would be that I have always finished early at least 2 days a week without any issues and have carried out my role to a good standard and there has never been a complaint that my early finishing was causing an issue with deadlines. My employer has proposed another role in the business which would allow me to work from home 1 day, but work in the office the remaining 4 days doing regular working hours. This wouldn’t fit with my childcare arrangements. Do I have a strong case to appeal the company’s decision?