Open letter from Councillor fighting closure of Children’s Centres

I write in my capacity as Chair of the Red Kite Children’Centre Advisory Group to encourage as many people as possible to take part in Oxfordshire County Council’s consultation on the proposals to close all 44 Children’s Centres, replace them with about seven hubs across the county and provide services only for referred families.

This Saturday morning, December 12, I shall be in Thame town centre near the Town Hall 10.00 – 12.00, to draw the public’s attention to the threat to our Red Kite Centre in Thame and Chinnor and to gather signatures on a petition to OCC, urging them to think again about closing all of its Children’s Centres, which provide a vital service for babies, young children and their families.

To cut these services is very short-sighted, because prevention is always better than cure and saves money in the end.

To join with Children’s Services to have a 0 – 19 provision, as proposed by OCC, does make sense and would definitely save money, but for those services to be available only to referred families, would stigmatise those families, making them harder to reach. It would be crisis intervention, with no preventative work, which would store up problems for later, not only causing grief for families, but also resulting in a greater expense to the public purse.

There are many other problems with OCC’s proposals, some examples being:

• the distance from Thame and Chinnor to Didcot, which would be our “local” hub and the lack of public transport in that direction the cost and time involved for outreach workers from Didcot to come to Thame and Chinnor – and nowhere to hold meetings
• another venue would have to be found for health visitor, speech therapist and physiotherapist clinics – at a cost
• most families would be denied access to what many consider vital support
• public money invested in providing Children’s Centres in the first place would be wasted

I hope that many people will join me in Thame on Saturday morning to sign the petition and that many will take part in OCC’s consultation, which is on their website. Hard copies of the consultation document are also available from the library, the Town Hall and the Red Kite Centre.

If anyone would like more information or discuss the issues with me I can be contacted via the Red Kite Centre or on 07779654840 or by email maryandstella@aol.com

Yours sincerely
Mary Stiles
Chair of Red Kite Advisory Group
3 Willow Road, Thame