Closing centres makes no sense

The WSCC Tory proposals to decimate the Children and Family Services across West Sussex with five out of six centres in the Horsham District earmarked for closures went before the Tory dominated Scrutiny Committee on January 7.

It is clear that there are a number of issues with the presentation of the proposals and the paucity of data which has been presented for review by the Scrutiny Committee which begs the question as to how the Tory and Liberal Democrats felt it possible to rush the proposals through to the next stage, whilst Labour’s call to defer any decision until full information had been supplied to provide a fully rounded picture for scrutiny were ignored.

Questions need to be answered to ensure we are all know decisions are taken in full knowledge of the facts include:

How will the building assets be disposed of or repurposed and how will that be accounted for?

What alternative support will be provided for families such as mother and baby groups, and what are the cost implications?

Where and what health services delivered through the centres will still be delivered and at what additional cost?

These proposals fundamentally remove local access to services for children and families across the district by consolidating them into one central hub.

Residents from Billingshurst and Southwater will be discouraged from accessing these services in Horsham and any other complimentary services which use the same facilities.

With the information provided it appears there has been increase in usage between 2017 and 2019 in Worthing (+ seven per cent), Horsham (+15 per cent) and Crawley (+20 per cent) and a small reduction in a few centres, however the council would appear to believe this justifies removing 75 per cent of the centres which seems nonsensical.

Proposing to remove or reduce these services at the very time we could expect a further increase as a result of the Covid pandemic when people will require more support rather than less is counter-intuitive.

It would seem that whilst the emphasis is put on supposed improvements in service the reality is that this is a cost cutting exercise which will reduce vital services to the community.

It is imperative that the community ensures that the consultation period is fully utilised for residents using and staff providing these services to be fully consulted at every stage throughout the process and their concerns and fears addressed or the process halted.

An online petition has been raised on this issue and at the time of writing and has so far attracted over 7,300 signatures in a week. If you haven’t already signed it I urge you to please sign and show your support for these vital services ( www.change.org and search for ‘West Sussex Children and Family Centres’.) CHRISHENSON HorshamLabour MarringdeanRoad

Billingshurst