Brighton and Hove City Council announced cuts to Bright Start Nursery in Barrack Yard, which will see the closure of a baby room, a cut to the hours and weeks the nursery operates, and a move to a smaller location in the Tarner Family Hub.
The plans, presented to the children, families and schools committee in November, said there would be “community and parental consultation” on the proposal to cut services, with parents assured via email that they were “going to consult families and the community”.
However, council officers at the meeting announced there would not be a consultation, describing its inclusion in a report as an “error”, with only a limited consultation on the “operating model” at the new site taking place.
In a response to a complaint by residents, Brighton and Hove City Council apologised for the “confusion and concern”.
In a letter seen by The Argus, a spokeswoman for the council said: “Your substantive complaint is that parents were told on several occasions that a ‘community consultation’ would be undertaken and that the removal of ‘community consultation’ from the options paper presented to the children families and schools committee on November 6, 2023, seems more likely to have been a change in policy due to political concerns rather than the removal of an error.
“I apologise for the confusion and concern that the description of ‘community consultation’ has caused.
“On the day of the committee, it was identified that the language of the report was confusing and it was therefore important to clarify it to the committee before any decision was made.
“The officer presenting the report therefore made clear that what was meant by ‘community consultation’ was a consultation on the operating model with existing parents and staff not the wider community, following any decision.
“The local authority is not required to complete a statutory consultation with the wider community about the closure of Bright Start Nursery.
“There is a strong commitment to consult with affected parents about how the local authority implement the decision made by the committee, including offering bespoke advice about options for their children.”
Ed Armston-Sheret from the Save Bright Start campaign said: “We welcome this apology, but it doesn’t go far enough.
“The council has backtracked on commitments made to parents and residents of Brighton and Hove.
“In the local elections last May, the community made their views on nursery provision very clear.
“They elected a Labour administration on a manifesto that stated: ‘A Labour council will look to increase the city’s provision for pre-school education and seek to maintain council-run nurseries wherever possible.’
“Labour has no democratic mandate for these cuts.”
Councillor Jacob Taylor, deputy leader of the council, said that the Bright Start building is in a “poor condition” and that repairs would cost the council “significant” amounts of money.
He said: “We needed to find a suitable new building to rehouse Bright Start – that’s the Tarner Family Hub, which is very close and is co-located with other vital services for families.
“This is in stark contrast to the Green Party approach – they proposed the outright closure of Bright Start, with no alternative.
“We are one of the few local authorities in the whole country that still maintains a significant number of council-run nurseries, and we are fighting hard to maintain that against catastrophic real-terms cuts from the Conservative government.
“We held a well-attended consultation with parents last month, which I was pleased to join, and where I had a good discussion with a number of parents.”
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