The nursery at Harmony Children’s Centre in Neasden will shut on 30 March, and the nursery at Treetops Children’s Centre in Willesden on 20 July, the end of the school year.
Councillors made the decision to close the nurseries on Monday (13 February 2012) after a three month consultation. They agreed to close the nursery at Treetops Children’s Centre a term later to minimise disruption for children due to start school in September.
Cuts in Government funding of £3.3m over two years means the council can no longer afford to subsidise the nurseries.
Brent Council is also expected to consider renting the room used for the nursery at Treetops Children’s Centre to a new provider.
If the council accepts such a proposal, the new provider would have to take on the space from 20 July.
Despite the closure of the nurseries, both children’s centres will continue to stay open and offer services as normal.
The council said some staff have taken voluntary redundancy and the centre uses a lot of agency staff.
The remaining council run children’s centre nursery at Willow Children’s Centre will continue to provide places, particularly for children with disabilities or additional needs.
Councillor Mary Arnold, Brent Council’s lead member for children and families, said, ‘Unfortunately, after the change in Government policy and funding reductions, Brent can’t afford to subsidise all three nurseries, so we need to spend our limited funds on the children who need it most.
‘We have listened to what families told us, amending our proposals where we can. We have given as much support as we can to families during this difficult time and will continue to help them throughout.’
Justin Morgan, a local resident, said, ‘To close such a class leading facility after so much investment is a wanton act of vandalism and an unforgiveable criminal waste of taxpayers’ money.
‘With around £2m spent on developing this centre and over 800sqft of covered play space, I would not be over egging this in saying that this facility is second to none, not only locally, but nationally.’
‘Not only is this a great facility with great staff, but this centre also provides vitally affordable childcare for working parents in a borough where finding adequate high quality childcare to meet the needs of working parents is a major problem.’