A LEADING Labour supporter from the Malvern Hills district has said families could face an ‘horrendous’ future if vital children’s centres in Malvern and surrounding areas are closed down.
The fears of Daniel Walton, chairman of the Labour Party in West Worcestershire, come as Worcestershire County Council review the future of more than 30 children’s centres across the county.
The authority is commissioning a new prevention service to support families with children aged up to 19-years-old – meaning families could see significant changes, good or bad, made to existing services from October.
As part of the commissioning process, council chiefs are asking parents to take part in a consultation as it considers the future use of the county’s Children’s Centre buildings.
A consultation document reads: “The purpose of this further consultation is to determine, on a building by building basis, other potential uses for the buildings.
The options are wide and could include continued use for the delivery of integrated 0-19 services, use by schools, communities or other services or potentially closure where no suitable use can be identified.”
A handful of children’s centres under review in the Malvern area include Evergreen Children’s Centre on Worcester Road, Sunshine Children’s Centre in Pickersleigh, Riverboats Children’s Centre and Teme Valley Children’s Centre.
Mr Walton told the Observer he was concerned about the future of youngsters should his and parents fears are realised.
“The plans are just awful, horrendous for children, horrendous for young adults and horrendous for parents,” he said.
“There is amazing worry for the future.
“The amount of work the Evergreen Children’s Centre do is phenomenal. If these centres do get closed down then I don’t know what is going to happen the families which use them.”
Bosses at Malvern Hills Early Help, which deliver a range of services to children’s centres in the Malvern area, have urged parents to take part in the consultation.
Vanessa Cole, head of services, said: “At this stage we are just encouraging parents, carers, partners and other agencies to complete the consultation which will support the decisions made for the future.”
The organisation’s stance was echoed by ‘Parents Voice’ a group of parents in the Worcester and Malvern area who meet regularly to discuss issues they face.
Coun Marcus Hart, responsible for health and well being at the county council, said: “By listening to the needs of service users, we are trying to ensure the best possible support services and facilities for families with children aged 0-19 years old.
“As well as providing for current service users, our hope is that Children’s Centre buildings will in future fulfil a wide range of functions that support and appeal to all members of the community.”
To take part in the consultation visit www.worcestershire.gov.uk/childrenscentres. It runs until Friday, January 29.
