Labour Council determined to close day nurseries
RCT's Labour Cabinet are, it seems, determined to move ahead with plans to close several day care nurseries in RCT to the paying public.
The plans are to take only Flying Start children at Pontypridd, Aberaman, Tylorstown and Tonyrefail and not, as currently, additional fee paying children.
Flying Start is a Welsh Government initiative which offers part time places for children in communities first areas at no cost to parents.
The Council are, however, it seems, only consulting with parents of those pupils currently attending the settings and no-one else.
Welsh Liberal Democrat Councillor Mike Powell says this is hardly an adequate consultation.
"What about those parents to be in the area who may have been planning to put their children into one of those nurseries in a few months? Is nobody going to ask them?
"It may well be that the demand is not sufficient to justify keeping the nurseries open but the Coucnil have a duty to ensure there are sufficient child care places in RCT,
"There is a wider question to be asked here which is why RCT Council are running child care facilities in the first place when it appears they could be more effectively – or certainly more cheaply – run by private individuals or community enterprises.
"RCT Council charge a substantially higher rate than private providers. Maybe if they cut their costs then more parents would be inclined to use them. Or maybe they should just consider handing them all over to the private sector."
