Brighton and Hove City Council put forward a proposal to close the 50-place, year-round day nursery on 9 January, citing a ‘budget deficit of £19 million’ next year, which means it has ‘no alternative’ but to reduce some of the services it provides.
Despite recognising the ‘detrimental impact’ the closure will have on families, children and staff, the council says that building repairs are needed which will cost in excess of £500,000, and this is ‘not feasible nor cost-effective’.
It also cites that there are 47 alternative providers within a two-mile distance from the setting, including five maintained nurseries or nursery classes.
But parents of children attending the nursery ‘refute’ the rationale set out by the council for the closure and believe that it will ‘deprive the city of an essential service and further disadvantage the city's vulnerable population’.
More than 1,600 locals have signed a petition urging the council to reconsider its proposal and parents have taken to the streets with banners reading ‘Save Bright Start Nursery’, with another march planned on 4 February.
Suda Perera, a mother who organised the petition, said, ‘The budgeting of the building repairs is unclear to parents. We have asked for more details through a Freedom of Information request but have yet to receive it. The unsuitability of the building, also cited, has not been a problem for 30 years and was no impediment to the nursery getting a good Ofsted rating last December. Why is this suddenly a problem now?
‘As for the alternative provision that the council claims is on offer within a two-mile radius, many are not open for the same hours; several are only open from 9am to 4pm and more than a quarter of them are term-time only. They cannot reasonably be considered as alternatives for working parents. The nearest comparable 8am to 6pm all-year care we found has only half the capacity of Bright Start, and costs £70 a day in comparison to Bright Start’s cost of £58.30 a day. This translates to full-time parents needing to find an additional £58.50 a week for comparable childcare.’
Alexander Patterson, former manager at Bright Start, said, ‘The nursery was opened as a workplace nursery by then Labour leader Neil Kinnock's wife Glenys in 1989. For 34 years it has provided excellent childcare to both Brighton & Hove City Council staff and the local community. It is also the most diverse setting in the city, with around half the children speaking more than one language at home, and it works with a large cohort of vulnerable families.’
She added, ‘I was the nursery's manager from 2018 to 2022 and it was one of the privileges of my life to lead its team of dedicated staff. I do understand that many local authorities face impossible choices in the current economic climate, but that is not an excuse to evade transparency and deny the local community a reasonable conversation about its future.'
If plans for closure go ahead, it would take place in summer term 2023, to ‘minimise disruption to the children’. The council’s proposal states that 53 percent of children will be of school starting age in September 2023 and 12 percent are currently under two and would be ‘supported by the Family Hubs and the council’s early years team to find alternative provision’.
Responses to the proposal for closure will be discussed at the next full council meeting on 2 February, ahead of the final full budget council meeting on 23 February, when the nursery's fate will be decided.
A spokesperson for Brighton & Hove Council said, ‘Brighton & Hove also receives the lowest hourly rate of Government funding for two year olds in the country. East Sussex is the only other local authority in the sout- east with this low rate.
‘We have raised this issue with the DfE on many occasions over the years. But there has not been a positive response to the very reasoned arguments we have presented for a better rate of funding.’
