Ealing Liberal Democrats call on council to review Children’s Centre closures

Image: Councillor Gary Malcom, Clare Welsby and Councillor Jonathan Oxley

The Lib Dems will present their case on Thursday 3 July

In an Ealing Council cabinet meeting on Wednesday 11 June, the decision was made to close or reallocate ten of the borough’s 25 Children’s Centres.

These centres provide support to children under five, including Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) information and parenting programmes.

Liberal Democrat councillors have formally used their powers to ‘call-in’ the decision, and will present the case to the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Thursday 3 July.

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Councillor Jonathan Oxley, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Children’s Services, said:

“Liberal Democrats say that Ealing Labour’s consultation on closing children centres has been shameful.

“They baked cost savings from closing them into their Council budget while the consultation was still open.

“Now they’re ignoring the overwhelming opposition from parents and childcare professionals in the consultation, by pressing on with their reckless policy of closing ten of our precious children centres”.

Ealing Council has already agreed to keep three of the Children Centre’s set for closure, but the Lib Dems hope to secure a full reversal.

A petition to halt the reduction to children’s services in Ealing has received almost 2,000 signatures.

Emily Saunders, who created the petition, said:

“This drastic measure will leave many families in Ealing struggling to access vital physical, mental, and social healthcare for their young children.

“It’s therefore crucial to keep these facilities as they are for current and future generations of Ealing’s children.”

Council say services will be ‘more accessible’

Despite the closures, Ealing Council said that the changes will make children’s services ‘more accessible and inclusive’, with longer opening hours at remaining centres, updated websites, and an expansion of digital resources.

Councillor Josh Blacker, the council’s cabinet member for healthy lives, said:

“We’ve listened carefully to residents and made important changes in response to what we heard.

“This is about getting support to families earlier and in the ways that work best for them by reaching out into our communities to make services more accessible and inclusive for all.”