A media report which claimed children’s’ centres in Bootle were to be kept open in favour of those in Southport has been dismissed as “deliberately misleading fantasy” by a Sefton Council Cabinet Member.
The article stated that:
“Closing down up to seven out of ten children’s centres is Sefton Council’s latest idea to save money. And, just like the Council’s Library closure plans a few years ago, Bootle emerges better from Labour’s plans than do Formby and Southport.”
“Formby and Southport, which presently have three children’s centres, will only be left with one. Bootle will end up with two and Maghull and Aintree will lose out completely.”
The suggestion has been completely rejected, however, by the Cabinet Member with responsibility for children’s centres, Councillor John Joseph Kelly, who described the report as “ill-informed gibberish”.
He pointed out that no decisions had been made as changes to current provision are presently open to public consultation and as such depended on what representations were made.
Crucially, however, none of the proposals included closing any centres in Southport but did include the possible closure of a centre in Bootle. A centre could also close in Freshfields at the request of the school where it is based.
“The consultation does not contain any proposal to close children’s centres in Southport”, insisted the Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Safeguarding, who explained:
“Instead, it actually offers a wider range of services to those families hit hard by years of austerity in Sefton. Families in Southport have been hit hard by government policy over the last 10 years. We’ve consistently fought to protect services for the children and vulnerable adults despite having over 50% of our budget removed by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in government.”
Councillor Kelly continued,
“This report is a deliberately misleading fantasy designed to do one thing and that is falsely stir-up anti-Sefton resentment within Southport. It is a fake news scare story and is one of a spate of similar articles that have appeared recently. The people of Southport are not being served well by those involved in this.”
The article also claimed that the children’s centre proposals were designed to stop the introduction of charges for Green Bin collections, a suggestion Cllr Kelly found bizarre:
“The whole thing is ill-informed gibberish. Green bins having nothing to do with the consultation. This is just an exercise in mud-slinging and sadly there is a small element in Southport that have very dirty hands. Rather than dealing in the truth or respecting the consultation process, they are more interested in causing trouble in the town.”
The Children Centre Proposals are out to consultation until mid-November and Cllr. Kelly says all comments are welcome. Full details can be found on Sefton Council’s website.
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