A CONSULTATION has been launched by Warrington Borough Council for residents to have their say on proposals to redesign some children’s centres in the town including Great Sankey, Callands, Lymm, Appleton, Woolston and Birchwood.
The council is inviting residents to look at the consultation proposals and feed back their thoughts to help develop flexible services for the future. The consultation will close on Friday August 22.
Proposals include re-designs to some centres including Callands, Sankey Valley, Lymm, Butterflies in Woolston, Woodlands in Birchwood and Cygnets in Appleton.
The proposals aim to ensure that more targeted support is provided to families and children who need it the most while still ensuring that everyone in Warrington continues to have access to services they really need.
The redesign will enable the centres to focus on delivering high quality targeted services for local communities as recommended by Ofsted and also assist the council in achieving the £50 million savings that Warrington has to make.
The plans are varied and some areas will not see any changes. Other proposals include the creation of a single ‘super’ centre in Great Sankey, providing a larger, more fit for purpose centre. The council is working alongside partners including the NHS, LiveWire, and schools, to see how more targeted, flexible, and sustainable services can be delivered in the future.
Cllr Jean Carter, executive board member for children and young people’s services, said: “The council and Ofsted have recognised that we need to focus more on those who need us the most while still ensuring that everyone in Warrington continues to have access to services they really need. Our proposals will help us to achieve this and more.
“This consultation is an opportunity for all residents to have a look at what we are proposing and have their say. We want as many people as possible to get involved with this conversation and together we hope we can develop sustainable services that are in many ways more suited to our residents needs.
“Unfortunately we are also facing significant reductions in our budget from central government and numerous local authorities have closed many of their centre sites altogether, amounting to hundreds of closures nationwide. However, we hope that, with your help, our proposals will mean that we do not need to do this and we can also use this opportunity to look at how we can make some significant positive changes to your services by redesigning them and allowing our partners to deliver more.
“We are confident that these challenging times will provide many opportunities for our partners to begin to run additional services for you in the future, perhaps things like maternity yoga, prenatal coffee clubs, and more community facilities such as additional spaces to hire for groups and events or other services that we are not currently able to provide. Please do tell us what would be important to you.”
How to find out more
A comprehensive information factsheet that details the proposals is available at: www.warrington.gov.uk/childrenscentresurvey and as hard copies from each of the twelve Children’s Centre sites and Contact Warrington. You can request a copy to be sent to you by calling: 01925 443322 or emailing [email protected]
How to have your say
The consultation survey can be found at www.warrington.gov.uk/childrenscentresurvey and as hard copies to fill in at each of the twelve Children’s Centre sites and Contact Warrington. You can request a copy to be sent to you by calling: 01925 443322 or emailing [email protected]
