Council set to pull funding from city nurseries

Leeds City Council is set to pull out of running three nurseries in a bid to save cash, despite protests from parents.

The Little Owls sites in Gipton North, Kentmere and Chapel Allerton have been earmarked for closure because of "significant financial challenges", the council said.

A further 12 sites could be taken over by alternative providers or merged as part of a review by the authority.

A decision is expected to be made next Wednesday, with the council's executive board recommended to approve withdrawal from, or closure of, the three nurseries.

Last month, parents staged a protest calling on the council to put off making a decision until after the general election.

A council report said in 2022-23, the annual cost of running Little Owls was £3.9m, which included a £1.9m overspend.

The following year, the overspend was reduced to £841,000.

Closures would be based on evidence there was sufficient alternative provision for families, the report said.

Children currently looked after at Chapel Allerton could be moved to Little Owls Chapeltown or Meanwood.

Those attending Gipton North could go to Osmondthorpe or Harehills.

Youngsters attending the Kentmere centre in Seacroft could go to Little Owls Seacroft or Parklands.

Plans about alternative providers for 12 other Little Owls sites - Shepherds Lane, Meanwood, St Mary’s Hunslet, Hawksworth Wood, City and Holbeck, Parklands, Quarry Mount, Bramley, Hunslet Rylstone, Osmondthorpe, Rothwell and Burley Park - were also expected to be discussed at next week's meeting, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Under Leeds City Council's plans, it would continue to directly operate another nine of the nurseries which looked after children aged between three months and five years.

The Little Owls service was designed to provide free and subsidised nursery care in areas of high deprivation or with a shortage of provision.

There were 28 Little Owls nurseries in Leeds up to the end of 2022, when that number was reduced to 24.

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