Councillor Ian McLaughlan, portfolio holder for children and families, told Nursery World that one option could involve private providers closing their existing facilities and moving into daycare units in the children's centres.
He said, 'We have not taken a decision to hand them over lock, stock and barrel to the PVI sector. We want to discuss with the private sector how we get the overall number of vacancies down and how we enable private providers to deliver childcare in the children's centres.'
But Peter Kent-Baguley of the opposition Potteries Alliance accused the council of 'privatisation driven by political dogma'.
The council is anxious to offload the Phase One children's centre nurseries because if they were closed down the Government would claw back money already invested in them.
The council has decided that five centres in Phase Two will not have childcare facilities, and private providers within a mile radius of them will be urged to provide daycare.
The council's plans were unveiled at a meeting attended by private nursery providers at Stoke's football ground three weeks ago. They were addressed by Ged Rowney, who heads the team sent in by the Government to turn around the council's children's services after their poor performance in a joint assessment by Ofsted and the Commission for Social Care Inspection last year.
Providers who take up the council's offer could be offered incentives, such as a children's centre teacher for those nurseries supplying childcare for the second phase centres.
Nick King, owner of the Dresden Nursery and joint chair of the North Staffordshire Private Nurseries Network, said he was reserving judgement on the proposals until the detail of the offer is finalised. 'The children's centre buildings are expensive to run and people won't want to sell their own freehold properties and move into a rented property unless they are confident the business will succeed,' he said.