Communities across Perthshire could be torn apart by the decision to close vital after-school clubs, parents have told The Courier.
In a hammer blow to many local families, members of Perth and Kinross Council’s lifelong learning committee rubber-stamped plans to call time on its support for 10 such services.
While some communities have secured private firms to take on the running of kids’ clubs, others will simply cease to exist in the coming months if there are not significant new developments.
Parents now fear having to cut back on their working hours, leave their jobs or even quit the area entirely in search of after-school care.
The council has pledged support to communities and parents as solutions are sought and has stressed there may yet be a way back for some of the clubs, while in other areas alternatives are available.
However, the decision ultimately taken by councillors has been described as “misguided” by parents who said elected members had been denied an accurate picture of their importance to communities.
Without significant new developments, Comrie Kids’ Club is set to be among those that closes its doors to youngsters on July 1 after a request for a year’s extension was denied.
Support will continue to be offered, but there has been an admission that no “viable alternative” to the council running the service is currently on the horizon.
“This decision will have a devastating impact upon working parents,” said Comrie parent Susan Alexander, who relies on the local kids’ club.
“Some of them will have to give up their jobs, while others will have to see whether their employers will allow them to reduce or change their working hours.”
She added, “If the council was willing to work with parents and look at the numbers then I firmly believe that this club could have a bright future.
“However, there needs to be that partnership rather than just a black hole where co-operation should be.”‘Essential’ serviceErrol Kids’ Club has been given until Christmas to prove it is sustainable, but parents believe they too have already successfully done so, only to have their findings ignored.
With few alternatives within the area, they believe it is vital the service is kept.
Following the meeting, Errol Kids’ Club committee member Rachel Coleman told The Courier, “The figures that we submitted to the council clearly show that the club is sustainable and the community had held out hope prior to the meeting that the club could be retained.
“We invested significant time and effort in this, so it is extremely annoying to see that our work has not really been considered.”
The committee is continuing to look into a variety of opportunities for continuing after-school care and Mrs Coleman admitted that the consequences of losing the service did not bear thinking about.
“We are a one-income family as my husband is a student and cutting my working hours is certainly something I am faced with,” she added.
“I’m also aware of some people who are putting their houses on the market because they fear there will not be any after-school care available in this area.”
Nonetheless, she remains hopeful that the kids’ club can be saved and said, “We want to reassure people that there will still be after-school care in this area come January.
“We are all very clear that we have to have a facility in this community. It is essential.”‘Fuming’In Crieff, however, parents bidding to save their kids’ club have admitted they do not know what their next step should be.
The report before councillors indicated a number of alternatives to the town’s service, which is scheduled to close on July 1, but parent and Crieff Primary School parent council vice-chairwoman Nicola Christie believes that is far from accurate.
Ms Christie is head of the sub-group set up to fight for the retention of the after-school club and had hoped to send her children there, to enable her to begin a nursing course at university.
However, her dreams are in jeopardy and she was aware of other parents being forced to re-evaluate their jobs.
“I was fuming when I read the committee paper as it completely ignores the case we have set out indicating that the club is sustainable,” she said.
“Councillors should be there to support us, but they seem to have just gone along with the recommendation before them.
“We have been left feeling betrayed.”
The committee ruled on one of the most controversial aspects of this year’s council budget in Perth and Kinross.
The closures will save the council nearly £200,000 and take effect from July 1.
The clubs earmarked for closure through the cuts were Abernethy, Birnam and Dunkeld, Blackford, Coupar Angus, Craigie/Moncrieffe in Perth, Crieff, Comrie, Errol, Longforgan and Pitlochry, while it was proposed that a reduced service would be introduced at the clubs in Bridge of Earn, Scone, Invergowrie, Milnathort and Blairgowrie.Solutions promisedThe committee agreed it would press on with the closures as of the start of next month, but Birnam and Dunkeld Kids’ Club and the one in Errol were given a stay of execution until the end of the year to allow a transition to a new model of management.
The councillors were told the Comrie club had also asked for an extension of another year while it reviewed its options, but this was refused on the grounds that in the absence of a viable alternative model it could not be supported.
Councillor Willie Wilson said that “different solutions for different areas” had emerged and he welcomed the assertion by officials that, while Comrie had not been granted an extension, “the door remained open” if fresh ideas emerged.
A report to the councillors on Wednesday reiterated the need for the cuts and outlined alternative means of providing out-of-school care in the region.
It also outlined details of the support the council offers communities to help make childcare resources available in other ways.
Widespread engagement had taken place with parents and carers, looking at each local situation and attempting to identify ways in which they can be assisted and supported.
Campaigns were launched in various places to fight to retain services within their communities, but the council maintained that it could not continue to subsidise loss-making clubs.
Committee convener Councillor Liz Grant said the council had been forced by financial realities to “make difficult choices about the way we deliver our services.”
She said that although the closure decision had been made, the council would continue to work to help individual communities find their own solutions.
“There is no question of abandoning any community we will continue to work with them,” she said.
“I am quite confident that when this comes back we will have helped local communities find solutions.”