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Parents’ bid to save centre
MORE than 100 parents have signed a petition to save a flagship childcare service at Talacre sports centre which they fear is under threat from council savings plans, campaigners claimed this week.
Fathers of young children who use a pioneering dads’ drop-in project are leading the campaign to keep SureStart services at the Kentish Town sports facility.
Pedro Kalache, a ceramic designer from Chalk farm, is one of more than a dozen fathers who regularly visit the project, which allows the under-fives to use Talacre’s ‘Treetops’ soft play area while adults take advantage of the sports centre.
He contacted the New Journal after hearing from staff of plans to shift the service to cheaper premises. He said: “I’ve been using the service for quite a while with my three year-old daughter, and its excellent. Being at the sports centre it doesn’t carry any taboo, and it makes it really high visibility.”
He has signed the petition, which reads: “We feel that removing this project from Talacre sports centre is an extremely bad move, especially when the government is supposedly working to combat childhood obesity.”
The council yesterday denied that Sure Start was scheduled to be moved from the sports centre, but a press official would not comment on reports that plans had been discussed. She said: “There aren’t any plans to move Surestart services at Talacre at the moment, however, as always at this time of year, we are going through the commissioning process for services next year.”
She later clarified: “We will be looking to move some Surestart services into the new Children’s Centre in Hammond Street when it opens and will discuss this with parents using Surestart services in the area before making any decisions and will take their views into account.
“Many parents are looking forward to being able to using the centre, which has been built specifically for Surestart, childcare and early years services.”
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