Story: Douglas Johnson, Sheffield Law Centre
Parents of Fir Vale Pre School have won the first round of their legal challenge to the Council’s decision to cut funding to their nursery, after a High Court Judge ruled in their favour.
The mothers are trying to get the grants reinstated by arguing that the Council acted unlawfully. Without the grants, the judge heard of the
“significant loss of service and probable closure of the nurseries.”
Sheffield Law Centre is representing the women. Although there are four named women in the case – the court has ordered their names to be kept confidential – the case affects parents at over 20 centres across Sheffield. This includes Ellesmere Children’s Centre, Watoto Pre-School and The Meadows at Shirecliffe, which recently announced it, would close. All the nurseries are in the deprived areas of Sheffield where there are not enough parents in regular work to make a nursery run on a commercial basis.
Without adequate childcare, parents cannot work or train and children miss out on development and learning. The Council often states that the early years of a child’s life are the most important ones that affect future life chances.
The nurseries are also important community organisations in their own right. They were often built up by local women faced with the lack of childcare in the community. They provide both formal and informal support.
Parents from the Meadows at Shirecliffe brought their own petition to the Council meeting on Wednesday 3rd July. The nursery is to close after plans for a school to take it over fell through. The issue also came up at a Council scrutiny meeting on 4th July but councillors voted against any proposals to assist the nurseries.
The case is now going to a 2-day hearing in the High Court in Manchester on 29th and 30th July.