Tories target Bright Start Nursery

The Council is threatening to close its own workplace nursery - Bright Start - which has existed for nearly 25 years and provides nursery places for both council employees and the wider community.  The nursery is well-respected and is unusual in that its staff actually enjoy reasonable pay and conditions, ensuring low staff turnover and continuity of care for the children.  But for your average Tory monetarist, such "luxuries" add up to "costs" which must be stripped out in the brave new world.

The "consultation document" which the council has just published cannot deny the quality of the service but chooses to hide behind the fact that investment is needed to refurbish the building.  But the Council quite clearly has no idea how much extra cost would be entailed in simply maintaining the empty building if the nursery were to be closed.  The document is full of wishful thinking about what other organisations might take over the building, but it is far from clear what other public sector organisation or private company would have a use for the building...although it is of course in a prime and lucrative central Brighton location.

This is just the start.  We have not even had the Autumn statement yet but the Tories are looking to sneak in cuts now in the hope that no-one will notice.

There is a campaign to save Brightstart at http://savebrightstartnursery.wordpress.com/ and a petition at http://www.petition.co.uk/savebrightstartnursery
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=147236258653644

By the way...the cost of that refurbishment?   £230,000....less than two "strategic directors".