Save Fernbank & Hillside Children’s Centres Campaign Statement
We are parents and the local community campaigning to stop the proposed closure of both Fernbank and Hillside children’s centres, in Hackney, N16. They both include subsidised nurseries that offer affordable childcare to local families.
Hackney Council is running a consultation about the new Early Years Strategy and the proposed closures here. The Early Years Strategy Document is here. Consultation on the closures will close on 16th November 2021.
Hackney Council states this is a “re-provisioning of children’s centres to make savings and to target resources to our most vulnerable and disadvantaged children” – in reality this is a cut of 109 affordable childcare places to Hackney families, many of whom are vulnerable and disadvantaged - a fact which is highlighted by their own Equality Impact Assessment. The cut means a loss of around 20% subsidised nursery places in Hackney and 26% of subsidised places for 0-2-year-olds.
Critically, these childcare places can service many more than 109 families as some choose to use them part-time. The Children’s Centres also provide numerous other services for local families, such as stay and play and Special Educational Needs and Disability support.
We have analysed the rationale for closure as set forward by Councillor Caroline Woodley and Hackney Council. In the consultation documents and their recently circulated FAQ document (published on 20th October, a full five weeks after the public consultation began), they make a number of assertions that are at best, misleading and, at worst, dishonest. They also omit crucial information that would help the reader achieve a fuller understanding of the impact of the proposed closures.
We have identified that:
The data and evidence included in the rationale for proposed closures is incorrect, incomplete and in places, actively misleading.
There is no evidence that other options have been explored and exhausted prior to proposing these closures.
The public consultation is not being conducted properly and is leading people to respond in favour of closures.
We have outlined our concerns and queries in the following pages.
We are calling on the Mayor of Hackney to:
● immediately halt the consultation on proposed closures of Hillside and Fernbank Children’s Centres
● commit to safeguarding all subsidised childcare places and children’s centres
● ensure that subsidised childcare places are properly advertised so families are aware of
the service available to them
We are asking people to show their support for our campaign by completing the consultation survey, strongly disagreeing with the plans and the proposed closures (question 9 of 10) and write to consultation@hackney.gov.uk to let the council know how they feel about these closures. We are also encouraging people to write to their local councillor expressing their concerns.