In September, Hackney City Council launched a consultation on the closure of Hillside and Fernbank children’s centres due to a drop in demand for nursery places. According to the council, the centres are ‘situated in an area where increasing numbers of children are attending independent settings’. The consultation closes on 16 November.
The closure of the children’s centres would result in a loss of 109 childcare places and could see 27 nursery staff face redundancy.
Parents and the local community have launched a petition calling on the Mayor of Hackney, Phillip Glanville, and the cabinet member for families, early years, parks and play, Councillor Caroline Woodley, to keep both children’s centres open and ‘show their commitment to supporting working families, particularly those on lower incomes who are already struggling to pay childcare costs’. The petition has received 414 signatures so far.
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