Councillors agree to close Derby Street Nursery

On what was described as a “sad day” by Councillor Ray Dutton, members of the Heywood Township Committee agreed on Monday (3 November) to the closure of Derby Street Nursery.

In a report presented to the committee, it was stated that only seven children had shown an interest in using Derby Street Nursery from September [2014].

It was also reported that the nursery was losing up to £500,000 per year – an amount that councillors agreed they could not support.

Councillor Jacqui Beswick said: “I know it is sad and I know the nursery has been around for a long time. It has been around for most of my lifetime but we can’t sustain that amount of money. We can’t keep it open when it is losing that amount of money. That is tax payer’s money and we can’t expect people to pay for that.”

A public consultation is currently ongoing regarding the nursery with that set to end on 23 November. Once the consultation has ended the nursery could be closed with effect from 31 March 2015.

Councillor Liam O’Rourke said: “There are some real concerns here that need to be looked at. If people were being turned away from the day care and being told they could not have a place there, that could have affected the nursery and people taking up places and that needs to be looked at.”

It was also added that staff working at the nursery have either resigned, moved on to other positions or have been looked after by the council.

Councillor O’Rourke added: “I am just happy that the staff have been looked after.”

Councillors then agreed that the nursery should be closed.

Councillor Dutton said: “We can’t support a nursery with that much of a loss. It is a sad day but we have to agree the closure.”