Nearly 1,000 people tell council what they think of children's centres after Save Our Centres campaign launched by The Argus

A public consultation launched by Brighton and Hove City Council over plans to cut back on children’s centre services had received 317 responses by January 26, a month after the survey opened.

But since The Argus launched the campaign on January 28, the figure tripled to around 900 before closing on Monday.

The campaign opposes suggested cutbacks of nearly £800,000 in the 2015/16 financial year to children’s centres and related groups and services.

The number of people who completed the survey is just a fraction of those who could be affected by the cuts, but it illustrates the volume of feeling about the proposals. The council described it as a “healthy” number of responses.

Mother Rani Ashton-Smith has a nine-month-old daughter called Indira [corr] and said the Hollingbury and Patcham Children’s Centre offered her support while she waited for specific help to tackle post natal depression.

The 29-year-old, of Bramble Rise, Brighton, said: “I was referred to a post natal depression group but I had to wait five months to join it. Being able to attend other baby groups in the meantime made a massive difference.

“The group I visited was informal and cost next to nothing to run. I had become very isolated, I didn’t want to leave the house but already began to feel better by meeting other mums and making friends. I don’t know what would have happened to me otherwise.

“Hollingbury is already full and is having to turn people away. This will get worse with more families going to fewer centres.

“These cuts are really short sighted and will have a knock on effect on other services.”

She has joined the Brighton Children's Centres Campaign, a group of concerned parents who oppose the cuts, and is supporting their plans to hold a protest ahead of the decision meeting at the end of the month. 

The group urged people to take part in the consultation and launched a petition – which 678 people have signed so far.

Jacqueline MacLean, from Brighton, added her name to the petition.

She said: “Without these services children’s needs will not be identified at the earliest stages, leading to more costly interventions at a later stage.”

Nicky Easton said: “Every child deserves a good start in life whatever their background.”

Adam Brain said: “I'm a parent of two children and a social worker so I am only too aware of how important resource like this can be and that they will in the long improve lives and save money.”

The cuts in detail 
COUNCIL officers are looking to hack back the number of children's centres from 12 to eight in a bid to save £779,000 in the 2015/16 financial year. The venues and related services cost £2,471,000 but the council wants to run them for £1,692,000.
If approved, tens of thousands of families would be affected.
The plans include: 
· Cutting the number of main centres from 12 to eight, by merging four. The centres at risk are City View Children's Centre in Elm Grove, Cornerstone Children's Centre in Church Road, the Hollingbury and Patcham site in County Oak Avenue, and West Hove centre in Portland Road. City View and Cornerstone could be merged into Tarner Children's Centre in Ivory Place. The Hollingbury and Patcham site could be merged into the Hollingdean centre in Brentwood Road. The West Hove centre could merge into Conway Court in Clarendon Road. Although the council insists the buildings would not be sold off and health services would still be available from them, their legal status as children's centres and the range of services available there would reduce seeing them effectively close. 
· Baby groups which meet each week in Moulsecoomb, Whitehawk, Coldean, Woodingdean and Rottingdean libraries, and in the Meadowview Community Centre, could be axed. The libraries themselves are not under threat.
· Early-years visitors, receptionists and service support managers are under consultation and the equivalent of 11.5 full-time posts could be axed.
· Funding to both voluntary groups the Early Childhood Project and the Brighton Unemployed Centre could be halved.
· The City View and Cornerstone advisory groups could merge into one at the Tarner centre, and the Hollingbury and Patcham group could be combined with the one at Hollingdean.
· The current 30 baby and toddler Stay and Play groups across the city could be slashed to 20.
· Drop-in baby and toddler groups, which are open to everyone, could be time limited, with appointments introduced.
· Parents with babies would only be able to attend an eight-week course and children under two may only be able to attend for a term.
· Home visits will be cut back by a third and parents will be encouraged to travel to a centre for a check-up instead. 

The Argus needs you - support Save Our Centres and stop children's centre cuts

1. Pledge your backing of the campaign by contacting senior reporter Flora Thompson at The Argus to express your views on 01273 544539 or email flora.thompson@theargus.co.uk.
2. Sign the change.org petition 'Stop the proposed cuts to children's services' online set up by parent group the Brighton Children's Centres Campaign by clicking here
3. Join the parents in a peaceful protest on Thursday, February 26, ahead of Brighton and Hove City Council's budget meeting at 4.30pm where the future of the children's centres and related services will be determined. The meeting takes place in Brighton Town Hall, Bartholomew Square, Brighton.

The council later released a statement from Pinaki Ghoshal,  its executive director of children’s services, who welcomed the high number of responses from residents.

He said: "The proposals made in the children’s centres consultation are not set in stone. The whole point of the consultation has been to seek the views of families, staff and partners and give them serious consideration before the budget-setting council meeting on February 26.

“The proposals are part of a drive to focus council resources on services that will deliver the best outcomes for those families who need most help.

“The consultation document proposed reducing the numbers of designated children’s centres from 12 to eight by merging some of them.

“However, this does not mean that we would be ‘closing’ any of the centres.  The title ‘children’s centre’ is a statutory legal definition. Under the proposals four of the 12 centres would lose this specific legal status – West Hove, City View, Cornerstone and Hollingbury & Patcham.

“All of these buildings would remain open and would continue to provide some services for young children including health visiting. Cornerstone is a community centre that runs a wide range of services.

“We have been working very successfully for a number of years to develop the capacity of local parents and carers to run or assist on a volunteer basis at groups that operate at children’s centres.

“Many parents have found this role very enjoyable and fulfilling, and in some cases the training and experience they have gained has enabled them to find paid employment. We want to increase the number of parents able to volunteer in this way. We would continue to offer rooms at all our centres free of charge to parent-run groups. We are not trying to stop these groups happening and we hope they will continue to operate. 

“With a reduced staff team there would need to be a greater focus on providing support to families with the highest levels of need whilst supporting parents to run universal activities where they are able to.

“There are also a number of community groups running across the city, and we would also be supporting parents to attend these.

“It would remain the case that every child or parent who is assessed as needing a service will receive one. We would be offering an enhanced universal service through health visiting with an increase in the number of contacts with families.

“Increasing the number of health visitors in the city is the key to us being able to make sure that everyone who needs a service is identified and that nobody goes ‘under our radar’.

“Health visitors have just started to offer new face-to-face development reviews for all children and their parents /carers at one year old, and at two years old. We believe this will ensure that we identify at an earlier stage families who need help.

“We will continue to offer groups and home visiting to the families who need most help.

“We have based our proposals on the knowledge that some of our centres are much better used than others and that some parents already travel to children’s centres in different areas.

“We have made the proposals about mergers after considering what would be reasonable in terms of distance and convenience for parents.”