The seven neighbourhood nurseries are Agbrigg Bell Vue, Airedale,Castle, Chequerfield, Girnhill, Kingsley and St Swithun's.
Their future was put under consultation last week by WakefieldMetropolitan District Council.
Councillor Pat Garbutt, cabinet member for children and young people,said, 'The Government funding has run out for these seven nurseries andwe must now look at whether they are sustainable. The council remainscommitted to providing nursery places for all children across thedistrict and, as part of the consultation, we will be looking atalternatives to our current provision.'
At a meeting last week the council's cabinet considered a report on thenurseries' costs.
'No decisions have been made yet,' said Mr Garbutt. 'We will be lookingat the circumstances for each of the seven nurseries and compiling adetailed report for consideration by Cabinet next month.'
Councillor Olivia Rowley, who works in community cohesion andpartnership, said, 'I think neighbourhood nurseries are doing a fabulousjob, but they were developed on a wing and a prayer and they need someserious investment. First of all, there isn't the take-up. Even if thelocal authority subsidises them, what do they do for the other nurseriescompeting with them? There aren't enough children to go round.
'There's greater choice at the moment but plenty of places unfilled, soit's a dilemma for the council.'
Ms Rowley added, 'All the nurseries have different arrangements, andwhere they are attached to children's centres they are more sustainable.They've fitted in based on the needs of the community in the mostvulnerable areas. In Wakefield we have a high number of deprivedcommunities and there is lots of informal, unrecorded childcare.
'One problem is that there are lots of people in my local area who wouldlike to use them but can't, as they work in the early mornings orevenings. Tax credits cater for people on a regular income. And thepoorest people often don't have that.
'As long as you try to run it as a business there's always going to beproblems, especially in poorer areas.'
In addition to the seven council-run neighbourhood nurseries, thedistrict has a mixture of 43 privately-run, voluntary sector andmaintained nurseries.
