Nursery World - Plans for new children's centres axed

Kent County Council is to scale back the third phase of its children's centre programme by scrapping plans to build five children's centres and incorporating a further five into existing facilities.

The council estimates that the cutbacks will save about £3.8m from the overall cost of its £30m children's centre programme.

Kent's original target for phase three of its children's centres programme was for 30 new centres to be built, bringing the total to 102.

A cost-cutting review aimed to find ways to reduce the number of new builds by maximising the number of children's centres delivered in existing facilities. It also explored whether some children's centres could be delivered via partnerships with private and voluntary organisations and whether universal coverage could be achieved with fewer centres.

Sarah Hohler, cabinet member for children's services, said, 'In addition to the 72 children's centres that already exist in Kent, we are proposing a further 25 centres to give 97 in total. These will be in the areas where they are needed most. We are getting better value for money by using existing facilities, reducing the number of new-build projects.'

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