Nursery World - London council shuts down newly-opened centres

Four children's centres in the London Borough of Haringey are to lose all council funding, while services in the remaining 15 are set to be slashed.

Haringey council says that it has no option but to make the cuts after reducing its children's centre and early years budget by £6.5m.

One of the centres that is under threat has been open for just three months. The Rokesley children's centre cost £1.1m to develop and began offering services from its purpose-built building in February. The Highgate children's centre, another setting facing the axe, has been open for just over one year, since February 2010. The other two settings set to have their funding withdrawn are the Northbank and Tower Gardens children's centres.

Parent Ruth Garde, who attends the Rokesley centre with her 17-month-old son, said, 'I will be devastated if the children's centre closes. They offer the best stay-and-play sessions I have ever attended. The facilities and the care are excellent. The fact that the centre only began offering services from its new building three months ago makes the council's plans seem insane. To leave a building like this unused would be absolutely criminal.'

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