Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Family centre reprieve after U-turn on closure
Vital family and children’s services will continue at the Riverside Centre in Canterbury following a U-turn by Kent County Council.
They had been under threat in a cost-cutting plan by the authority, but have now been given a reprieve.
The Gazette last month highlighted the threat to important services for new mums and their babies, among them language and communication development, parenting and health advice, and play sessions.
But KCC wanted to pull them out and run them from its other outlying centres, including Whitstable and Chartham.
It caused uproar as the Riverside in Kingsmead is used by around local 800 families, many of them on low incomes with no personal transport, who complained they would not be able to get to alternative locations.
Now Roger Gough, KCC cabinet member for children, young people and education, will recommend to a meeting of the committee today (Thursday) that the services should remain at the Riverside.
Yesterday, Canterbury City Council leader Cllr Simon Cook said: “We lobbied the county council very hard on behalf of local families to retain services at the Riverside.
“It’s what residents wanted, so I am really pleased they listened to the case we made and that the dedicated team at the centre will continue to be based there.
“Under our stewardship, Riverside was rated as ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted at its most recent inspection and we will be working closely with the county council to ensure a smooth handover that means the high quality of services can be maintained.”
Earlier this week Cllr Gough said: “We’ve had a strong representation from local people and local groups and we’ve had some very good conversations with Cllr Simon Cook and senior officers at the city council.
“Following these debates and discussions, it is proposed KCC commits to sustaining existing services at the Riverside.”
But the contract for run- ning them is being taken off the city council and taken on by the county council’s own early help and preventative services department.
It means the county council will still save £153,695 a year as opposed to the £175,695 it would have done by removing them altogether.
Cllr Gough said: “We believe that through the economy of scale of integrating Riverside with the wider network and our early help offer, we can deliver significant savings while maintaining services.
“We believe by bringing the provision in-house we can offer a higher quality of provision as well as achieving greater value for money for the tax payer.”
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