Councillor hits out over over 'planned Sure Start closures'
A Selby area Councillor has hit out after it emerged County Hall officials could be planning to close two of the district's 'Sure Start' children's centres.
Selby
Two of the district's centres – one in Tadcaster, the other Whitley – could be set to close during the next year as bosses at cash-strapped North Yorkshire County Council looks to make cuts in order to balance the budgets.
Sure Start Centres were set up by the previous Government as part of a £10 billion programme to target disadvantaged children and families. The centres provide advice, support, education and child care to help avoid the long term impacts of poverty and unemployment.
Whitley's County ward member, Cllr John McCartney (Ind, NYCC Osgoldcross), told us, "Although the Council are talking to stakeholders such as parish councils about these closures it is clear that they are going to happen, this is the second round of Sure Start centre closures that North Yorkshire County Council have been through.
"The plan for the Whitley Sure Start centre is that the building will be integrated into Whitley and Eggborough Primary School to be used as an early year’s classroom after the Easter holidays. This at least means that the taxpayer’s money invested in the building will continue benefiting the children of the area, which is good news.
"But, in the long term society will be the poorer for the closure of this Sure Start centre and the other 650 which have been shut down across England and Wales, since the Coalition Government came to power in 2010.
Responding to Cllr McCartney's claims, a spokesperson for North Yorkshire County Council said, "The county council continues to run children’s centre services, but because of savings that need to be made we are looking carefully at some of the buildings we use. In particular, where children’s centres are on school sites, such as Whitley, we are working with schools who may need to extend their capacity by using children’s centre buildings because of the demand for additional school places.
"Nevertheless we still intend to run some children’s centre services from those school sites as well as looking to run some services in a range of other community buildings. Whenever we do make changes we will consult locally and welcome views from members of the community."
The other three centres currently operating in the Selby district are in Selby, Sherburn and Brotherton. Selby Online understands that NYCC currently have no plans to close these facilities.