Council leaves local Parents Stranded
November 17, 2009 4:26 PM
Poole Council knew of the situation for 2 weeks before taking any action.
Local parents were left stranded after Poole Council closed the local Down in the Woods Pre-school without warning, despite knowing about the potential danger of the buildings for some time.
Merley Youth Club was also shut with immediate affect on Friday 7th November, after an engineer's report found that the stability of the building "cannot be assured" especially in bad weather. This left Down in the Woods Pre-school homeless, along with the Youth Club which meets there three times a week. Poole Council, however, knew of the situation for 2 weeks before taking any action, potentially leaving children at risk.
"Poole Council have a lot to answer for; clearly this issue should have been addressed a long time ago" said Annette Brooke MP, who joined a group of over 100 parents who marched on Poole Civic Offices in protest at the move, frustrated that they had been given so little time in which to find alternative childcare. "It seems that the Council's Property Services have failed to maintain the building adequately, which has forced the closure."
"It has been known for a long time that the building was in need of attention, and yet the Council has done nothing until now - and even this is in reaction to a crisis rather than proper management. The children's safety of course must come first, but this whole issue should have been handled in a far better way."
A compromise has now been reached which will see the pre-school back in the original building within weeks. A structural support is to be installed at the Youth Club to strengthen the building, allowing it to remain open until summer 2010. The pre-school will be housed at Canford School until the reinforcement work is done. The situation however is likely to cost Poole Council a substantial amount of money in repair work and other costs, all of which will have to me met by the Tax Payer.
Local Lib Dem Councillors David Brown, Peter Maiden and Daphne Long have asked for a full investigation, but their request that this issue was discussed as an urgent item at Scrutiny Committee recently was overruled by the Conservative Chairman. Cllr David Brown said "On the one hand the Council considers it acceptable to give the Down in the Woods pre school less than 2 hours notice to cease activities, then on the other hand four working days is not sufficient for someone in the Council to prepare a brief report for the committee and discuss the situation."
"In my view this is just an attempt by the current Conservative administration to stifle proper scrutiny of the mismanagement of this crisis," commented Annette Brooke. "This is totally unacceptable and we will continue to press for proper scrutiny. It is vital that nothing like this is allowed to happen again."
After considerable pressure by Lib Dem Ward Councillors the situation will eventually be discussed at Council, but not as an emergency item as should have been the case. All details were correct at time of going to press but the situation may have progressed since.
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