Nursery World - Parents fight to keep children's centre open

Parents are fighting to save the nursery based at their Sure Start children's centre from closure.

Westy Sure Start Nursery in Warrington is due to shut at the end of March. The local authority says it can no longer afford to subsidise the setting.

Warrington Borough Council put the nursery out to tender for a second time in October last year but it failed to drum up interest.

The closure of the nursery will leave 76 families without childcare and 12 members of staff redundant.

Parents are urging the council to reconsider, with a meeting this week to discuss three possible solutions: halving the subsidy provided by the local authority to £113k; putting the nursery out to tender for a third time; or reducing the subsidy for a period of time and, once the nursery becomes profitable, putting it out to tender.

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