Under its four-year plan, the council has already opened nine nursery schools in Kent's most deprived wards and a further 16 are currently being built. Phase three proposes a final ten nurseries by 2006, giving priority to the county's most deprived areas.
The ten proposed nursery units will be located on existing primary school sites in Canterbury, Swale, Tonbridge and Malling, Shepway, Thanet and Dover. Each nursery will cost 340,000 to set up and provide 26 places.
Dr Ian Craig, assistant director of education and libraries at Kent County Council, said the final phase of the plan would help to reach the council's target of offering pre-school places for 85 per cent of three- and four-year-olds in the county.
Dr Craig said, 'Although Kent is one of the largest education authorities in the country, we have very few maintained nursery units compared with the rest of the UK. Over the years we have relied heavily on voluntary and private provision. When looking to locate the maintained units, we have prioritised areas with the greatest demand for nursery places so voluntary and private providers are not disadvantaged.'
The continued expansion of Kent's pre-school provision follows a fall in school rolls and declining birth rates, meaning more primary school places in the county are left vacant.
But Dr Craig dismissed suggestions of a decline in pre-school numbers. He said, 'Like other local authorities, we have a falling birth rate, but Kent is a region of population growth. Kent Thameside has massive housing developments planned and a predicted 117,000 new homes will be built by 2021. New families moving into the area will offset any overall decline, and there is still demand for more pre-school provision.'
He added, 'When this four-year plan comes to an end in 2006, Kent County Council will look to children's centres as the next area for concentrated development.'
The outcome of the public consultation will be reported to the School Organisation Advisory Board on 9 February.
