Victory for parents as Leeds nursery stays council-run after campaign
Parents and campaigners are celebrating after their south Leeds nursery will remain with Leeds City Council.
The Save Little Owls campaign was mounted to save Hunslet St Mary’s Little Owls from being transferred to another provider away from local authority control.
It is now the tenth nursery of the 12 originally considered for privatisation by council chiefs to be saved.
Parents and carers feared there would be a proposed 24 per cent fee hike at the Shepherd’s Lane site in April next year if it transferred hands.
Iain Dalton, spokesman of the Save Little Owls Nurseries campaign, said: “Through campaigning and lobbying over the last year and a half, parents and carers and our supporters in the trade unions, have built sufficient pressure on Leeds City Council to force them to retain 10 out of the 12 nurseries threatened with possible privatisation.
“This means that high-quality, affordable childcare has been retained in those areas of the city through the provision from council-run Little Owls nurseries.
“We have seen with the fee hikes at Shepherd’s Lane the worrying future for where the council still intends to transfer to private operators.
“Leeds councillors have always had a choice, privatising nurseries with a detrimental effect on parents, carers and their children or instead working with us and the trade unions representing nursery workers to campaign to demand the funds necessary from central government to ensure high quality, affordable nursery provision remains in Leeds.”