The London Borough of Hackney is undecided whether to maintain ownership of the Old Fire Station, which has housed the 31-place Fire Station Nursery and a range of other community organisations for 20 years, or sell it to a company pledging to refurbish it.
Last week the building was due to be auctioned off by Hackney council, which has been ordered by the Government to dispose of surplus property to curb spending.
The Fire Station Nursery's administrator, Hazel Bankole, said the council had placed a community covenant on the building to safeguard it for community use and that its users, including a special needs group and a before-and after-school club, had been 'assured we won't be thrown out'.
But the council has deferred a decision on whether to keep the property or sell it to the Ethical Property Company, whose managing director, Jamie Hartzell, has promised to provide much-needed investment for renovation.
Mr Hartzell said the company would run the building as a 'social business', charge a 'reasonable rent', and aim to enhance existing community-run groups to turn it into a family centre.
Ms Bankole said that if the council did decide to retain ownership it had to ensure sufficient investment to upgrade facilities. But, she pointed out, the nursery's budget had been cut by 20,000 in each of the last two years.
Gail Chester of the pressure group Friends of Hackney Nurseries called for the loss of nursery places in the borough to be halted. She said, 'There used to be 1,000 full-time, affordable nursery places in Hackney a few years ago and they have been cut by a third. We have seen a 13 per cent cut in community nurseries' budgets.'
As Nursery World went to press, parents of children attending the 45-place St John's Nursery, which has been threatened with closure, were due to lobby councillors. Parent Charlie Kimber said, 'This is the third major closure of a council nursery in the last 18 months. For all this Government's talk of expanding childcare, the availability of childcare in Hackney is diminishing.'
