In Oxfordshire, 14 nurseries, pre-schools and children's centres were notified that they will no longer receive funding for their projects, following a £2.75m cut by the Department for Education in Oxfordshire County Council's capital funding.
However, a further 12 settings in Oxfordshire that have had their capital projects frozen since July were given the go-ahead by the council.
Reports of cuts to capital funding are emerging from all over the country as local authorities are being told by the DfE to put on hold any funding not already 'fully committed' to settings in July.
The DfE is in the process of notifying local authorities of their revised allocation.
Councillor Louise Chapman, the Oxfordshire Council's cabinet member for Children, Young People and Families, said, 'I share the disappointment of those who can't now go ahead with their projects and I really do sympathise, but this is the financial situation the whole country faces and there are difficult decisions to be made.
'Among the criteria considered for those projects which are going ahead was those capable of completion by March 2011 and, in the case of pre-schools, looking at where there was a real need for places in particular areas. I realise this is little comfort to those who have been disappointed, but there simply isn't the money to pay for everything now.'
Sonning Common pre-school is one of the Oxfordshire settings that has been told it can go ahead with plans for a new £450,000 building. Manager Clare Saunders said, 'The building we have got at the moment has gone beyond the point of being cost-effective to repair. The new building will enable us to expand the setting from 25 places to 40. We were absolutely elated when we were told that we would receive the funding. We will celebrate more once it has sunk in and have a goodbye party for the old building!'
In West Sussex, another pre-school has warned that it will have to close after being notified in September that its capital funding grant of £400,000 for a new building has been withdrawn.
Helen Baxter, co-owner of Walberton Pre-school, told Nursery World, 'At the moment we are a pack-away setting based in a village hall and we can't afford staff costs for packing away every night on the funding we get from the Government for the free entitlement.
'My business partner and I are bankrolling this ourselves. The council is aware of this and it is why we were awarded the grant. There is no other pre-school in a twoor three-mile radius. There are other pre-schools in neighbouring villages, but I don't think they will be able to mop up the children from our setting.'
Four nurseries and pre-schools in Devon were told last week that their capital funding has been scrapped after the DfE cut the council's grant allocation by £1.6m.
