Herefordshire Council to consider future use of children’s centres

Herefordshire Council will consider the future use of children’s centres at a meeting this week.

The report to Cabinet outlines that the services offered at children’s centres will continue to be available, but with some schools and nurseries making greater use of the buildings, and the provision of multi-use sites.

Proposals were adapted following public consultation, and for the most part, respondents who use the children’s centres were in favour of the proposals. Where proposals were not supported, amendments have been made in an effort to allay concerns.

There are currently ten children’s centre buildings across Herefordshire which support children under the age of five and their families. It has been proposed that four buildings will be operated by schools or nurseries, four buildings remain the same, and two buildings will relocate services to be shared with libraries or other under-occupied buildings.

The proposals have been put forward to recognise the changing nature of early years’ services as more outreach and delivered within community settings or directly in homes. The changes will also aim to meet the demand of new nursery places following the introduction of 30 hours free childcare for 3 and 4-year-olds.

The original proposals were subject to public consultation with the results published on the Herefordshire Council website. The report has been published as part of the Cabinet agenda for 14 September 2017.