ALCOMBE'S newly opened SureStart children's centre was in crisis yesterday (Thursday) after the West Somerset Nursery Group announced it had pulled out of the development and withdrawn as the official child care provider. Ongoing problems with the condition of the building and pressure to provide additional services which compromised the nursery's working practices were cited as the reasons for the decision, which was taken at a special meeting of the nursery's management council on Tuesday. Tracey Sweetland, chairman of the management council, told the Free Press she was absolutely gutted but there had been no other option. "We are deeply disappointed," she said. "We have reached this decision after a lot of hard thinking and it is gut wrenching to the many staff and council members who have committed their time, energy and resources over the last few years to this special and much needed scheme." The £1 million-plus purpose-built centre should have been completed in April but builders are still on site. The nursery, which already has a successful and separate facility in King Edward Road in Minehead which is unaffected by this decision, was chosen to provide day care services for children at the Alcombe building from 8am to 6pm. It moved into the centre, which is operated by Somerset County Council's Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership, in June. But Mrs Sweetland said the centre had been beset with difficulties in building control and working practice requirements. As recently as October 26, the county council was still unable to offer a full building control inspection certificate and existing and proposed activities were in need of a formal environmental health review. And for the past five weeks the centre has been out of action for the 18 children catered for because of problems with the drains. Mrs Sweetland said staff and the majority of youngsters had been been accommodated at the King Edward Road site but the situation had been very difficult. The nursery was set up by parents eight years ago and is a registered charity that is still managed by parents of former or current youngsters on its books. Mrs Sweetland said the management council felt the nursery's efforts to discharge its duties of diligence, both as a charitable company and as a provider of established and acknowledged quality childcare services, could not be reconciled with the standards mandated for it by SureStart West Somerset. "Our efforts have been quite exhaustive but we wanted the ethos of the Alcombe centre to be the same as our King Edward operation. "We have now reached the point where it would obviously be better for us to stand down and allow room for some other provider to emerge." Mrs Sweetland said the nursery continued to support the SureStart concept of integrated care at the Alcombe centre, which she described as a fantastic and great idea. And she said the nursery was not wiping its hands of any involvement and would continue to support the centre where possible. "We will actively explore other ways of assisting such schemes and we wish the new providers every possible success in the days ahead." Jenni Boyles, group manager of the county's Early Years and Childcare Partnership, said the nursery's decision was very regrettable. "It is terribly unfortunate and our immediate concern is for the families who were using the centre." Mrs Boyles accepted there had been problems with the building but said that was not unusual in any new-build project. However, she said she was unaware of the issues relating to working practices and requests to provide additional services. "I shall have to explore that so I really cannot comment on it. "This has only just happened but we will obviously be looking for a new provider as soon as possible."
