Protest against bid to shut university nursery

FAMILIES have staged a protest over plans to axe the nursery at UHI Perth.

It comes after bosses revealed the service was at risk for the second time in a year.

They want to shut the college nursery and cut up to 70 jobs elsewhere in UHI Perth to plug a £4 million financial black hole.

The nursery, which employs 12 people, is full, with 57 children on its register and a waiting list for places after summer.

Mum Lee-anne Herbert was one of large crowd of parents who attended yesterday’s protest.

They were joined by Perth and Kinross Council leader Xander Mcdade and Perthshire North MP Pete Wishart.

Lee-anne’s husband works at UHI Perth and their son Struan, three, goes to the nursery.

She said Perth College bosses must consider the wider impact of closure.

“There are students who depend on having childcare on their doorstep,” she said. “Some of them say they will have to give up their studies if the nursery closes.”

“We are slap bang in the middle of an area which suffers from real poverty. Local parents need this nursery too.”

UHI Perth has said it is meeting Perth and Kinross Council’s education and children’s services team to consider the options if the nursery does close.

But Lee-anne says these are limited.

“I have phoned round all of the nurseries in Perth and there are no places available,” she said.

Mr Wishart said UHI Perth principal Margaret Cook pledged last year to keep the nursery open until at least 2025.

And he urged the people of Perth to unite to save it.

“We know the university is experiencing financial hardship at the moment,” he said. “But there is an overwhelming sense that senior management have failed miserably to protect the interests of staff and students as they navigate their way through these pressures.

“The nursery should surely be about the last facility to be considered for closure.”