At a meeting on 23 September, Norfolk County Council decided to concentrate more of its available funding on nursery and pre-school projects, rather than children's centres, on the basis that the nurseries were required to meet childcare sufficiency targets.
The council froze spending on capital projects in August following a reduction by central Government in its Sure Start Quality and Access Funding by a total of £5.168m (News, 15 September).
If the plans are approved, it will mean that nine Phase 3 children's centre projects will be scrapped, while four will go ahead.
Hevingham pre-school will miss out on funding for a new building and will instead be given contributions for minor refurbishments. Catton Grove Primary School, which was due to receive £355,000 to build a new classroom to increase nursery places from 78 to 102, was one of the settings that had its project frozen, but now looks set to receive the funding.
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