CONSULTATION ON NURSERIES TO GO AHEAD

Salford council has now given confirmation that it will proceed with its planned consultation with regards to the fate of Salfords 5 'Outstanding' nurseries which are threatened with closure due to changes made to the way they can be funded.

Some, however, have said that it's a case of too little too late after a report published by the Salford Star highlighted that it was only within the last two weeks that the council has made a submission for flexible funding to the Government.

See articles here: http://www.salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=4402

A planned march is due to take place this Saturday 24th March at 11am, whereupon campaigners are set to march from Victoria Park in Swinton to the lawns of the Civic Centre where they intend to hold a rally.

We will be there to live stream both the march and the rally for those who are unable to attend.

In a press statement put out this evening 21/03/18, the City mayor outlined the plans for the consultation.

Announcing the changes, City Mayor Paul Dennett said:

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“In order to find a solution for our five outstanding local authority nurseries I am going to be consulting over 90 days on options to protect them.

“We have been impressed by the passion and commitment in the month since we paused the consultation. This has given us the option to investigate temporary sources of finance within the council.

“Furthermore, there are promising options to explore for the future – so we are now able temporarily to commit money to guarantee nurseries to end of the academic year in 2019.

 “We have started a conversation with residents and tried to be clear that because of government cuts, we have a massive challenge to the council’s funding available to continue to financially subsidise these nurseries.

“We will use this 90 day consultation to work with all interested parties to try and find an affordable solution to keep this provision in our city. We are already working hard to develop positive options for the future, with support from The University of Salford and because of these developments and support from the campaign group, we are no longer going to consult on ending the nursery services.”

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Changes by the government on the way the Dedicated Schools Grant can be used mean the council can no longer afford the running costs of its nurseries. They cost £3million each year to run but the council only receives £1.5million in income from charges.

The consultation will involve public events at each of the five nurseries affected and a series of events for interested third parties to find out more.  

An initial consultation to close the nurseries was due to be launched in February – but this was paused for a month to allow a campaign against government funding cuts to take place. The pause was made by City Mayor Paul Dennett in response to parents and staff at a public meeting coordinated by Unison.

Salford City Mayor continued:

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“I have been impressed by the interest shown by all members of the community in keeping the five outstanding local authority nurseries open.  The passion for these five outstanding nurseries is clear within the city and I’ve listened intently to feedback from parents, staff, councillors and the trade unions since the initial public meeting and through this genuine 90 day public consultation I and the City Council will do all we possibly can to explore options and solutions to protect them.  

“Unfortunately we have been forced into this position by the government. I have written to the Minister of State for Schools to request a discussion and this letter was also signed by the Leader of the Conservative Party in Salford.

“There will be a demonstration march on Saturday 24 March from Victoria Park, Swinton to the Civic Centre to once again ask the government to reconsider its funding formula to protect our nurseries.

“Seven years of austerity have cut our core funding cut in half. That works out at £198million since 2010 – or £60,000 out of our budget each and every day.

 

Councillor Lisa Stone, Lead Member for Children’s Services at Salford City Council, said:  

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“These five nurseries are rated as Outstanding by Ofsted. They are run by passionate, committed and dedicated workers.

 “We now need people to come forward and support the consultation with their ideas. We are keen to explore all solutions to run them more cost-effectively.”

 

The five nurseries involved in the consultation are:

Little Hulton Day Nursery
Belvedere Nursery
Winton Nursery
Barton Moss Nursery, Eccles
Higher Broughton Nursery

The consultation will be online from Monday 26 March at https://www.salford.gov.uk/your-council/have-your-say/consultations/

you can find another article from the Salford Star regarding this turn around, on this link: http://salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=4414