MAJOR changes in the delivery of children’s services throughout Hampshire are to be explained by Hampshire County Council (HCC) representatives at a special public session to be held at Alton Community Centre.

Due to take place between 9.30am and 11.30am on Wednesday, April 20, the drop-in session, supported by a small travelling exhibition, is expected to outline major changes affecting early years facilities at Bushy Leaze Children and Families Centre in Alton. The facility has been described by Ofsted Inspectors as “outstanding”.

With huge cuts in funding threatening the survival of dozens of the county’s early-years centres, Bushy Leaze’s supporters do not underestimate the threat it faces, in spite its close relationship of more than thirty-years with the community and its schools.

The proposals for change are being driven by huge pressure on HCC to meet a funding shortfall of £98 million by April 2017, of which £21.5 million is to be met from the Children’s Services budget.

It is proposed that £8.5 million of those savings could be delivered by combining children’s centre services, Early Help Hubs and the Youth Support Services to form a single 0-19 Family Support Service, operating from fewer buildings and with a single, streamlined management and operating structure.

There are currently 54 designated children’s centres across Hampshire and the intention is to reduce the number to just 11, one for each district, located where families have high levels of need. There are also plans to reduce overall staffing levels by 60 percent.

In East Hampshire, where there are three Children and Families Centres, the proposal is to close Chase at Bordon and Heath at Petersfield, leaving Bushy Leaze in Alton to provide a Family Support Service hub for the entire district.

It is a proposal that Bushy Leaze users fear will result in the loss of vital early-intervention services that benefit hundreds of families in the Alton area.

The facility’s first head teacher, Luath Grant Ferguson, is urging the whole community to “stand up for Bushy Leaze”, which was launched in 1983 by Hampshire County Council (HCC) and the local health authority to bring together professionals, such as early years teachers, specialist assistants and therapists, to work closely with parents, local primary schools and the wider community to support very young children with non-main stream needs.

Mr Ferguson is calling on all those interested in the centre – families, helpers and friends, past and present – to attend the special public session and express support “for what Bushy Leaze does for hundreds of children at a time across the locality.”

He is keen to encourage families who have benefited from the centre in the past but who are now involved in a later stage of school provision, to say what Bushy Leaze has meant to them and their children.

And, he says, that having dropped-in to Alton Community Centre next Wednesday and listened to what is proposed, it is imperative that all those interested should register their response to HCC’s consultation by noon on Tuesday, May 3.

For details of the proposals and to take part in the online consultation visit www.hants.gov.uk/childrens-services-consultation