Letter: The Impact of Closing Children’s Centres Cannot be Overstated

Published on: 16 Nov, 2018
Updated on: 16 Nov, 2018

From George Potter

In response to: Two Guildford Borough Children’s Centres to Close

It’s a shame this story has taken so long for The Dragon to publish. There is a very real threat facing many families across the borough: the closure of half the borough’s children’s centres.

Surrey County Council is currently consulting on plans to make a whole host of cuts across a wide range of services, from bus passes for disabled people to adult social care, but the most eye-watering of the cuts they’re planning is the closure of 31 children’s centres across the county.

Here in Guildford, Boxgrove Children’s Centre in Merrow faces the axe (including its outreach services in Bushy Hill and Ripley). The impact of this cannot be understated. Families with young children from Merrow, Burpham, Christchurch, Clandon, the Horsleys and Ripley will now all be expected to head to the children’s centre in Bellfield instead.

But, as one of the founders of the Save Boxgrove campaign, I know full well that this will leave many families, especially the most vulnerable ones, without access to the support they need. As the Stories section of our website attests, there are many who cannot drive or use public transport and who will be cut off and left isolated if Boxgrove closes.

And the support that Boxgrove provides is vital. It’s not just the activities, or free health and parenting advice and support, but the friendship groups that are formed, the extra advice available on issues from money-worries to job hunting, and, of course, the child development and weighing clinics that take place at the centre thanks to the local health team.

Parents simply won’t be able to get the same degree of support if they have to go to Bellfield or Park Barn, especially given that both those centres are also already busy serving communities with a high level of deprivation.

That’s why it’s so important that we, as a community, rally together to save our children’s centres. We’ve already collected over 200 signatures for a petition to keep Boxgrove open and our website has lots of tools and resources to help people do things like respond to the council’s consultation and to write to our local MP.

Of course, Boxgrove isn’t the only children’s centre under threat in our borough. Tongham’s children’s centre, at St Paul’s C of E, is also due to be closed, and Ash Grange Children’s Centre is set to be downgraded to a ‘satellite’ centre which will only offer a reduced number of services, with parents again being expected to head to the children’s centres in Park Barn and Bellfield instead.

This isn’t good enough, and it will put children’s futures at risk. Perversely, it probably won’t even save any money in the long run, since any money saved by closing children’s centres will be outweighed by the increased cost to schools and the NHS as they will be the ones left to pick up the pieces.

To anyone reading this: please do something. Sign the petition, respond to the consultation, join the campaign. And if you live in an area with a children’s centre under threat other than Boxgrove then please get in touch – we will be more than happy to share our tools and knowledge with any other community campaigning to save their children’s centre.

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