Parents and carers of children at council nurseries threatened with closure have welcomed proposals that could see five nurseries remain with the local authority.
In a letter seen by WLD, Leeds City Council has announced that five of the 12 nurseries they were considering transferring to other providers are proposed to remain as Little Owls nurseries.
This means that two thirds of the remaining Little Owls nurseries could continue being run by the council. Three nurseries were closed by the cash-strapped local authority last year.
It’s proposed the previously threatened nurseries that will be retained by the council are Burley Park, Hunslet Rylestone, City & Holbeck, Osmondthorpe and Quarry Mount.
A further three nurseries (Hawksworth Wood, Hunslet St Mary’s and Parklands) may be transferred to schools which they are co-located with.
Four nurseries (Bramley, Meanwood, Rothwell and Shepherds Lane) are subject to ongoing processes of potential privatisation – although there is no confirmation about who the potential private providers are.
Parents from the Save Little Owls Nurseries campaign believe that the privatisation of Little Owls nurseries will only weaken nursery provision across Leeds.
In a statement, they said: “We are instead calling on Leeds City Council to retain all of the threatened nurseries and work with the trade unions representing Little Owls nursery workers, alongside ourselves in the Save Little Owls nursery campaign, to demand sufficient funding from central government to fully cover funded nursery places
Iain Dalton, a spokesperson of the Save Little Owls Nurseries campaign, said: “After almost a year of uncertainty, parents and carers of children at the five nurseries confirmed to be staying with the council will be breathing a sigh of relief.
“We are glad that our campaigning over the last year has shined a spotlight on this situation and helped keep these nurseries in public hands. But other parents are still uncertain over the future of their children’s nursery provision, particularly the four nurseries which may still be privatised.
“When the government was elected a year ago it promised improvements in nursery provision, but parents in Leeds have instead seen three well-regarded Little Owls nurseries closed last August and seen the instability of the private sector with the sudden closure of Moortown’s Leafield House nursery in February.
“Instead of closing nurseries, Leeds City Council should be demanding the funding necessary from the government to continue the high-quality provision at all Little Owls nursery settings.”
In a letter to parents dated 12 June, Leeds City Council’s children’s centre and early start lead Amanda Ashe said that no final decisions had been taken.
She said that valid applications to take over the running of sites – including Bramley – had been received and that the analysis of the applications would take ‘several weeks’ to complete.
“Work remains ongoing in respect of all the above options and final decisions haven’t yet been made,” she wrote. “I will write to you again with formal confirmation of the decisions in each the settings.”