PARENTS, councillors and MP George Osborne are to fight tooth and nail to keep Oakenclough Day Nursery open after a proposed closure was tabled by Cheshire County Council.

More than 50 angry parents and their children turned out in force to an emergency meeting called last Thursday (January 8) to make their opinions known to CCC officers.

In a packed nursery room irate mothers and fathers, who have already have a 500-signature petition, claimed:


* Not enough advertising has been paid for to increase the school’s numbers.
* Prospective new pupils’ parents have been told the nursery is closing so haven’t signed up.
* The nursery is the best kept secret in Wilmslow with parents coming from as far as Knutsford Road to take their kids to the Colshaw Drive school.

Mum-of-one Ceri Oest said: "It seems no work has been done to make the nursery an attractive proposition to a provider. The consultation asks what the site be used for, rather than how can we make the nursery work."

County hall bosses have put the idea out for a month-long consultation after three providers and even the council themselves, who have been running the business since August, could not make a profit from the three-year-old venture.

Councillors Gary Barton, Margaret and Adrian Bradley and Jim Crockett have all pledged support for the school, and with his in basket over-flowing with emails from concerned mothers, shadow chancellor George Osborne has put his weight behind the campaign and vowed to pay a visit.

He said: "I am extremely concerned about the closure of the nursery and I think it would be a great mistake. All reports are that it is offering a great provision.  I have been in touch with CCC and I’ve made it clear to them that I will be fighting tooth and nail to keep the nursery open."

The Tatton MP’s thoughts were echoed in the meeting by parent Chris Sargent. He said: "You have spent a lot of money on this centre, it could be so much more. This centre is a superb civic asset, as are the people who work here and you have a real opportunity to turn the nursery from making a loss into making a profit."

Manager for Children’s Services Judith Thompson told parents that CCC were making a loss of £40,000-a-year after taking over in August 2008, the nursery is only 16 per cent full, and they could not get a provider to run the business even offering the building rent free.

She said: "We are losing a lot of money month on month and felt we needed to put it out to consultation then put it in front of elected members for them to make the decision."

The Express spoke to Coun Adrian Bradley, who could not make the meeting because of Macclesfield Borough Council commitments. He said that the decision ultimately rests with just one man, David Rowlands, head of Children’s Services.

Judith Thompson claimed door-to-door leafleting had been done for advertising, to which mum Sarah Foy retorted that one leaflet drop in six months was not good enough.

She said: "As far as the rest of Wilmslow is concerned Oakenclough doesn’t exist."

Child minder Lisa McKay-Renshaw claimed that she had been inundated with phone calls from parents saying that Oakenclough is closing on February 3 and that they had been turned away.

One young mum summed up the sentiment of many of those present. She said: "This is not financial this is emotional, it feels like a family for us here now."

Other parents blamed wasting money on leather sofas and plasma screens when it should’ve been spent on advertising.

Coun Margaret Bradley said: "There needs to be a long hard look taken at this before a decision is made."

Answers to the many questions asked by the meeting are to be returned to those present in a CCC Summary Paper. The consultation ends on February 6 with the proposed date for closure, if ratified by county hall, being April 3, two days after new council Cheshire East comes into being.