Croydon Council's Best Start consultation has been extended to Sunday 20th June.
Croydon Council is planning to reduce the number of venues from which it operated Children's Centres from 22 to just 9 sites.
The key concerns are that Purley Oaks Children's Centre will close, together with the Service Access Point in Sanderstead leaving a vast void in the service across the southern part of the Borough. In addition, Shirley Children's Centre is set to close despite providing a vital service particularly to residents of the Shrublands estate.
In both cases, there is an expectation that parents and carers will use services elsewhere but this does not take into consideration the cost and time to travel elsewhere (often over an hour's walk or several buses) and that those with several children may not have capacity to travel and use another service in the time available whilst an older child is at nursery - and more importantly it doesn't take into account that the alternative centres are already oversubscribed so effectively closing the Purley Oaks and Shirley centres removes access to the Best Start Provision for parents and carers in these areas.
If you'd like to have your say, please complete the survey here: Croydon Get Involved
Details of the proposal can be found here: https://getinvolved.croydon.gov.uk/project/692
And if you find the structure does not work for you, send an email to: [email protected]
