Torbay Council has extended the closure date of the ‘Outstanding’ rated nursery from February 2013 to 31 August 2013 in order to avoid moving the children during the academic year.
Mother Laura Cameron, whose children attend the nursery, is writing a business plan with an alternative option of the nursery continuing to run but as a social enterprise. She is working alongside a Torbay councillor and local children’s charity Play Torbay. The deadline for proposals of alternative options is 15 May when a final decision will be made on the fate of the nursery.
Ms Cameron said, ‘We are fighting like mad to save the nursery. We have had a lot of support from parents and councillors and not one child has been withdrawn from the nursery, despite the news of its closure, which is amazing.’
A council report states, ‘The consultation process highlighted public support for the nursery, but did not identify substantial alternative options. The most credible alternative to closure would be to outsource the nursery to an outside provider and the decision provides for this to be explored with an extended period up to 15 May 2013.’
The council’s reasoning behind closing the nursery is the falling demand for places with an estimated 170 vacant sessions at the nursery each week.
An initial consultation with the council ran between 16 and 26 November 2012. Following protests from parents about the short period of consultation time, this had been extended to January 2013 with the view to decide in February whether to close the nursery that month. This has now been extended to the summer, subject to the decision made in May.
Ms Cameron has also set up a Facebook page with updates and information of the case. There are currently over 1,600 members of the group and 70 businesses involved in the campaign.
- Sign the petition here
