Victory as children’s centre is saved although others still closing
A CHILDREN’S centre in Barwell has been spared closure as the county council earmarked more funding to keep it running.
The Sure Start centre on High Street was on a list of centres in danger of shutting as Leicestershire County Council looked to make savings of £3.8 million from its Early Help Services budget.
An extra £2 million is now proposed for a Family Wellbeing Service, which would involve six more centres remaining open than originally proposed.
Borough councillor Huw Williams (Con) said: “After being made aware of the possible closure of this centre, I visited and spoke to the staff who work there and it very quickly became clear that this is a facility which is needed for the village of Barwell and should be retained.
“Myself and councillors Russ Roberts and Hazel Smith wrote to the leader of the county council, Nick Rushton, and the cabinet member responsible, Ivan Ould, to express our concerns regarding its possible closure.
“We also attended a face-toface meeting regarding the closure in which we discussed the benefits to Barwell of the service which by providing the right assistance and advice early on will help to prevent longer term issues in the community.
“We are happy that the County Council listened to our concerns and the centre is no longer scheduled for closure and feel this is absolutely the right outcome for the residents of Barwell.”
The new service brings together children’s centres, Supporting Leicestershire Families (SLF), Youth Offending Service (YOS) and Information, Support and Assessment teams into one newstyle service.
The updated proposals have been published three-month which attracted responses.
Councillor Ivan Ould, cabinet member for children and families, said: “People value their children’s centres - and we’ve always recognised that some people will be affected by the proposals. That’s why we’ve listened to what they have had to say and we are earmarking more money.
“We face significant funding challenges and merging ‘early help’ services enables us to bring down costs by reducing duplication. But we’re committed to helping families who need the most support.
“This extra investment offsets the Government’s ‘troubled families’ fund we’re expecting to end, reducing the impact on vulnerable people.”
The new Family Wellbeing Service would support vulnera- following a consultation nearly 800 ble children aged 0-19 and their families, operating from 21 buildings across the county.
The six centres which will remain open under the proposals are at Melton (The Edge), Shelthorpe (Loughborough), Bagworth, Moira, Braunstone and Barwell.
The 12-week consultation resulted in 794 responses, the vast majority of feedback coming from users of the children’s centres.
Councillor Ould added: “I want to thank all those people who took the trouble to contribute to the consultation, and we have tried to address many of the concerns expressed in the feedback.”
To find out more, visit the Leicestershire County Council website or call 0116 305 3416 for more information.
Cabinet members will discuss the report when they meet on Friday July 6 at 2pm.