SUNDAY IS THE LAST DAY for members of the public to complete the Council’s online public consultation on nursery closures. Campaigners are calling on everyone who lives, studies or works in Tower Hamlets to take part – and reject the closure plans.
A spokesperson for Save Our Nurseries (SON) explained, “We want to remind everyone who opposes these dodgy plans to register their view today. There has been tremendous opposition to the closures – and every voice counts.
“No Local Authority Day Nursery (LADNs) should be closed on the basis of the shoddy Report which went to the June Cabinet.
“That report estimated how much money the Council could save by closing the nurseries – and the figures just don’t add up. Worse: there is no estimate of how much it’s going to cost us to close the LADNs. There will be redundancies to pay out, a new Unit for hearing impaired children to build and staff to train – none of which is costed.
“That report says that the LADNs are not popular – but we now know that the Council stopped the LADNs taking in children from the waiting list last autumn. The Council has lost income by running at less than full capacity even though there were parents who were desperate to take up the empty places – which shows that money is only a factor when the Council wants it to be.”
Campaigners are also concerned that some of the LADN income comes from the Council’s own Social Services, which places vulnerable children in the LADN. It has not been made clear whether Social Services will stop offering the places to needy children, buy places from the private sector (probably at a higher cost) or will end up having to take children into care.
“The public consultation is deeply flawed,” said a spokesperson from SON. “It asks people to choose between keeping the LADN open or the Children’s Centres – which is, of course, not the choice before the Council. It seems the Council is just being vindictive. People filling in the online consultation should make it clear in the section for other comments that they do not want the Children’s Centres closed either.”
•To read the Save Our Nurseries guide to filling in the Council consultation (which includes a link to the consultation), go to: Briefing and Consultation
•Read more about it: Crowds sign up to stop nursery closures “Mum’s the word!” as Council silences nursery protest