Final council-run nursery in Bolton to close after campaign to save it fails

The last council-run nursery in Bolton will close later this summer after it was deemed ‘financially unviable’.

Harvey Nursery in Great Lever will close at the end of this academic year after a campaign to save it over a number of years ended in failure.

Bolton’s Conservative-controlled council said the final decision had been made following recommendations from a committee which included parents and independent experts.

The decision was made by cabinet member Coun Anne Galloway earlier this week and she said the families of the 25 remaining children there will be supported to move to alternative providers.

Why is the council closing Harvey Nursery?

The council said the local-authority-run nursery costs council tax payers in excess of £100,000 a year and was projected to operate at just 25 per cent capacity by September.

The Harvey Nursery Collaborative Management Committee was established in March to review the current business model and consider any options to make the service financially viable.

The council said it included experts from across early education, parents of children at Harvey Nursery and representatives of Bolton Council.

The group found that, even at full capacity, there was no sustainable business model that would allow the facility to break even.

The council said contributing factors include a lack of demand in the area, with the number of childcare vacancies at local private early year providers far outweighing the number of parents requesting places.

The committee concluded that the nursery could not make up for the financial shortfall by charging more, as this would result in fees far higher than the regional average.

It determined that a private business operating under these conditions would not be able to carry on trading.

The nursery has been rated good by Ofsted.

What will happen to the children and staff?

Several members of staff have already found alternative employment while the parents of 25 children will be helped to find new childcare places.

The closure of Harvey Nursery was first proposed in September 2017.

A new business model was adopted in July 2019 which was based on reaching 75 per cent occupancy in order to break even.

Between 2019 and 2021 the maximum nursery occupancy was 52 per cent.

What has the council said about the decision?

Coun Galloway said: “This decision was not taken lightly. The financial viability of the nursery has presented a challenge to both this and the previous administration, but it has not been possible to find a sustainable solution.

“This in no way reflects the quality of childcare provision or the hard work and dedication of staff.”

‘A very sad day for Bolton’

The decision brings to an end the campaign to keep the nursery open.

On more than one occasion councillors voted to review the decision and to try and find ways to make the nursery viable.

Bolton South East MP Yasmin Qureshi, said: “The closure of Harvey’s Nursery speaks to a wider malaise facing early years care and childcare in Britain.

“Working families in our country face the highest childcare costs in Europe, in some cases it pays for working parents not to work because the costs are so extortionate.”

Labour group leader Coun Nick Peel said council rules will not allow his party to challenge the decision any further.

He said: “Bolton Labour councillors led the fight to keep this valuable nursery open, and we managed to delay the closure for several years, but now the Tory council has pushed ahead with their original closure plans.

“It means the end of local authority nursery provision, which is based upon service rather than profit, and is a very sad day for Bolton.”