Cavell House Nursery in Manningham is a 78-place setting catering forcouncil employees and, since a 200,000 annual subsidy waswithdrawn last March, local parents as well. Closure plans wereannounced in December and last week the matter was referred to thecouncil's executive committee, which agreed to closing the nursery.
Currently 65 part-time and 12 full-time places are filled.
Parents are continuing to protest and have a meeting with children'sservices bosses today (31 January).
Councillor Colin Gill, the executive member for children's services,said, 'As part of a business plan last year, the council attempted topromote Cavell House to parents who are not council employees andincrease the number of children attending the nursery by marketing theservice to other large employers. Unfortunately, the number of childrenat Cavell House has not risen and the nursery is simply not financiallyviable and, in a time of tight budgets, the council can't continue tosubsidise it.'
He added, 'This year there are a number of new children's centresopening with new childcare facilities. They provide the opportunity torelocate our excellent staff at Cavell House to these centres, as wellas providing childcare places for the children.'