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Parent power saves leisure centre crèches from closure



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Published Date: 21 March 2008
By ALAN RODEN
THREE crèches at council-run leisure centres have been saved from the axe following protests from parents.
The original decision to close six across the city – the result of a £300,000 cut in funding for Edinburgh Leisure – sparked widespread anger and led to mothers challenging First Minister Alex Salmond on the issue.

At a board meeting last night, Edinburgh Leisure's directors performed a U-turn and will now keep a total of four crèches open – although prices are to increase by £2 to offset costs.

Facilities at the Drumbrae and Gracemount leisure centres and Portobello swimming centre, which were earmarked for closure, will now stay open, along with Ainslie Park Leisure Centre as originally planned.

The crèches at Kirkliston leisure centre, the Leith Victoria swim centre and Craiglockhart Tennis and Sports Centre will close, as will the Royal Commonwealth Pool facilities.

Leisure chiefs said their decision was based on providing services in four distinct geographical parts of the city, and said the Commonwealth Pool was added to the closure list because it will shut next year for a major refurbishment.

The move was today welcomed by parents, who have gathered more than 3000 signatures in less than a fortnight and have described the crèches as a "lifeline".

Mother-of-one Karina McFall, from Lockharton Gardens, said: "I don't think Edinburgh Leisure anticipated the level of protest, but if you do something without any consultation this is what happens. This is a positive result and it is nice that Edinburgh Leisure has taken on board our feelings over this."

Ms McFall said the price hike was not "unreasonable", as Edinburgh Leisure subsidises each crèche visit by around £13.

It will now cost £5.80 per visit, or £4.40 for users with a membership card and £3.50 for concessions – a rise of £2 in each case.

Around 18,500 youngsters used the crèches in 2006/07, which are staffed by 24 workers.

Some employees will be offered redeployment, but compulsory redundancies have not been ruled out.

Edinburgh Leisure's chief executive, Keith Jackson, said today:

"We are confident that this is a preferable solution but will continue to review the situation over the coming months."

Labour group leader Ewan Aitken welcomed last night's decision.

But he added: "It's still disappointing that any crèches will close." The cut in Edinburgh Leisure's annual grant of around £7.7 million was agreed by councillors last week. A council spokesman said: "Edinburgh Leisure receives a grant from the council and it is for their board to determine how that is invested."


The full article contains 443 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 21 March 2008 10:03 AM
  • Source: Edinburgh Evening News
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Edinburgh Council
 
1

Jaffa01,

Edinburgh 21/03/2008 15:34:07
Don't understand how this doesn't pay for itself at least at breakeven. I believe it is something like £2.50 per hour. They won't be paying the creche workers any more than about £6. 10 kids (1 creche worker per 5 kids) in per hour gives you 13 profit.

How do they get a subsidy figure of £13 per creche visit?
2

The Judge,

21/03/2008 16:03:39
Well done everybody, yet another drain on the hard pressed tax payer so some mummy's can sit in the cafe and chat whilst somebody else babysits for them.

I look forward to the opening of creches at all the council owned golf courses in the near future.

Jaffa01, you forget things like electricity & they won't be paid £6ph, this is council workers we're talking about nothing they do comes cheap.
3

James (1),

21/03/2008 16:10:29
#1 If we use the figures quoted of 18,500 children using the crèches then dividing this by 12 months gives 1541 visiting per month then dividing it by 4 weeks gives 385 visits per week and dividing this by 7 days gives 55 visits per day. Now if that is divided by 6 crèches you have 9 children using the facility per day. 9 x £2.50 = £22.50 is taken in for crèches facilities per day. Using your figure of £6 x24 for staff pay means £144 per hour times 7 hour day means £1008 is going out. Now let’s ask does this make good business sense and if you had the opportunity to take over this business would you? The answer to the latter is no because you would be out of business very quickly.
Their children so our responsibility is how it works.
4

DementedsDaughter,

Edinburgh 21/03/2008 20:40:32
Great news!

The comments above are obviously left by men without a clue of the people that actually use the service. Why would they open creche's at golf courses to allow a bunch of elderly men to leave their grandkids there while they stroll around the course ? Mummies with money don't use council leisure facilities in general - they go to the private ones that offer a creche (at similar prices) but where the joining fees and memberships prohibit the rest of us going.

The parents use the time to exercise, to get fitter, to combat depression, avoid obesity, lower blood pressure and generally look after their health. All things people like the posters above would attack them if they didn't do.

As for exercising with the kids (another argument levelled previously on these boards) - you are not permitted to take more than one child swimming and even when you take one you get no exercise as you can't swim, as the little'un will drown while you do lengths.

When it's not raining you can take them to the park - provided it hasn't been vandalised - or have the fun of kicking a ball around while dodging the broken bottles, dog mess, condoms and other leavings around.

The people that don't realise the value of the creches are those that don't realise the reality of living with young children in modern Edinburgh - if you are not part of the 'new Edinburgh' monied class it's not at all the dawdle you seem to think.

Great news. Good decision. Thank you.
5

AndrewS,

Edinburgh 22/03/2008 01:11:18
Regardless, the concerned Mothers shouldn't have had the child if they couldn't afford to raise it ij the first place. The cost of raising a child to age 18 is well documented. Dogs and cats get neutered, so could women of child bearing age.
6

DementedsDaughter,

22/03/2008 07:10:01
No.5 Good idea. Although it would be more cost effective to sterlise men. One man can inseminate a lot of women. A women can only really have one child every 9 months or so - multiple births really aren't that common - but a man can inseminate any number. I think the costs of such a policy are also well documented.

7

James (1),

22/03/2008 10:15:53
#4 Nice try but sorry no cigar! You have shown however that you do need to get out more. Golf is not just played by elderly men. No doubt some of your crèche using mothers will have partners who could not watch the child because they were playing golf. So what to do? Oh yes get someone totally unrelated to you to pay for it.
The comment about golf was (I believe) sarcasm. It was meant to show that this too would waste money. Similar to providing crèches at leisure centres, meaning under used facilities for a minority that we really cannot afford.
They are not value for money to the majority of the public. They are a burden!
However they have closed 3 so that is a bonus and later on they can concentrate on closing the others perhaps one at a time.
It will be so easy to show they are not cost effective.

Your observation about why parents exercise is valid but others should not be paying for your past time!

Yet another example of transferred responsibility!

Your child so it’s others responsibility to pay for the childcare and keep the place running at a loss just on the off chance you decide one week to use the facility.
As I said if this was a private business it would be bankrupt very quickly.
8

The Phantommmmm,

22/03/2008 10:50:33
It's everyone's job to look after their children, except theirs, The Judge. This is the current orthdox view, therefore sacred in the media.
9

crecheuser,

22/03/2008 22:50:53
The amount of money involved is small change to the Council. They are picking on a group they thought wouldn't answer back. This article's title is misleading - the plan now is that half of the creche services in Edinburgh will still close.

http://saveourcreche.blogspot.com/
10

Dunaskin,

Edinburgh 23/03/2008 18:02:10
James(1) - your arithmetic is incomplete. What about the 'profit' that the leisure centres make from the additional patronage, ie the mothers who are using the creche will also be using the leisure centre? Dementedsdaughter (#4) is entirely correct as regards the wider picture.
11

JLF,

Edinburgh 24/03/2008 12:47:14
why shouldn't the Mothers use the creche whilst they use the facilities?

could the moron men above explain please? you complain often enough when the women'go to seed'.

bunch of hypocrits

 

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