Dwayne Johnson Director of Social Care & Health attended the presentation session at Freshfield Children’s Centre on Wednesday 1st November. Quite a few people turned up to listen and ask questions.
Mr Johnson stated that in 2011 centres sliced savings of 10-20% and now more savings were required.
The Talbot St building in Southport is being looked into as becoming a family and wellbeing centre. Concerns were raised by the group present that there is currently no car parking available and was too far from Formby to help some families.
Freshfield’s Centre is believed to be keeping some services but not the same range as now. The hours may be reduced and some services could be offered elsewhere, Farnborough Road in Birkdale and King’s Meadow in Ainsdale being two centres mentioned for services to be spread to.
The services will cover 0-19 year olds but teenagers and children’s services will be in separate areas.
Some centres mentioned as being main bases may be Talbot St, Netherton, Waterloo and Marie Clarke in Bootle with 8 or 9 complementary bases.
The consultation process is well under way to gain people’s views and then it goes to Cabinet on 7th December 2017 with recommendations.
It was stated by those attending that there are too many parenting courses being offered that did not meet the needs required. More targeted support needs to be offered.
Mental Health is on the rise and there seems to be a lack of provision in this area.
Dwayne Johnson said that cutbacks will include staffing.
Grandparents attending said they had received wonderful support through the centre and this needs to stay local, as they often collect siblings from Formby schools too.
One local pre-school owner attending, spoke of the invaluable support her families had received from the centre staff and those families could have been lost in the system had it not been for the staff being local.
It was felt that more networks and confidence building in mums and dads should be offered. Indeed there were two ladies from groups who networked/work with parents and they offered a lot of comments to the discussion.
It was seen as a weakness if all services were not offered under one roof to help people with various needs. It was also mentioned that other sites could become oversubscribed, which was potentially a danger that Mr Johnson was in agreement with.
Let’s hope Freshfield School and governors are in agreement with the majority of many, to keep as many services as possible at their school site, as it has become the focus for help for many families.
Dwayne Johnson hopes to gain a lot more replies to the survey. Please find the survey here and have your say to future services:
https://www.engagespace.co.uk/sefton/consultation_Dtl.aspx?consult_Id=938&status=2&criteria=I
https://www.facebook.com/freshfieldchildrenscentre/
https://www.facebook.com/Save-Freshfield-Childrens-Centre-119463632106816/
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