Nine children's centres in Suffolk to close
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Suffolk County Council has confirmed it is to close nine of its children’s centres, but will continue to deliver the services from alternative buildngs.
Yesterday the council announced that nine of its 47 children's centres will be de-registered to achieve £250,000 of savings.
The following children’s centres will be de-registered from the late summer - Brett River, Jigsaw, Meredith, On Track, Quayside, Reydon and Southwold, Roman Hill, Sea Breeze and Woodlands.
According to the council, the buildings are no longer fit for purpose, are expensive to run, require significant investment, or are not located in the best place for the community to access and make the best use of.
It is expected that some of the buildings will be used to increase the number of free childcare places available across Suffolk.
However, the council says it is committed to maintaining children’s centres services and plans to use community venues, including libraries, to continue to deliver the services currently available at the centres.
The move follows a consultation into the future of its children’s centres in the summer, which indicated that residents hugely value children’s centre services.
As part of the review, the council also sought advice from Frank Field, MP for Birkenhead, and the former national director of Sure Start Naomi Eisenstadt, now senior research fellow at the University of Oxford.
Mr Field has offered to work with the council to develop an implementation plan.
Councillor Gordon Jones, Suffolk County Council’s cabinet member for children’s services, said, ‘With greater demands on making savings and using our budgets in the most effective way, we need to make the best use of our assets.
‘This review is certainly not about cutting the services we provide to children and their families. This will enable us to use the funding available to deliver the greatest positive impact on children’s lives.’
He added, ‘There is no hard and fast rule that all children’s centres need to deliver their full range of services from a single site. The needs of children and their families have changed over time and we must continue to develop our services accordingly.
‘We value the skilled, hardworking staff who deliver Suffolk’s children’s services and we want to give them the best possible opportunity to continue doing so for the future. We will be consulting with staff in regards to the transition period towards using alternative sites.’
