Outrage as Reform-run council votes to shut 10 nurseries

Reform-run South Tyneside Council has voted to close 10 council-subsidised nursery facilities by 31 July next year, in a move that has sparked anger among parents and nursery workers.

The Reform cabinet voted to close all of the South Tyneside Accredited Network for Learning in the Early Years (Stanley’s) nurseries yesterday. 

A total of 116 people are employed across the 10 nurseries.

The Reform council said it was “not viable” to keep the facilities open, as they require a subsidy of £1.1 million per year. 

The authority needs to make £11.6 million in savings for 2026/27. 

South Tyneside Council’s lead member for children’s services, Michelle Fascione, said: “The council unfortunately doesn’t have a statutory obligation to provide these nurseries and it’s been costing us £1.1m a year to subsidise and it’s not viable for the future.

“As a new administration within South Tyneside, it would have been great for us if we could have kept them open, but in reality there was just no way it could be done.”

A review of the future of these nurseries was launched under the then Labour administration in February this year. When Reform took control of the authority in May, the party said it would continue the review.

Leader of the opposition on the council, Green councillor Rachael Taylor, wrote a statement on Facebook saying she was “deeply disappointed that Cabinet has voted to close all 10 STANLEY’s nurseries within 10 minutes of the meeting starting despite significant questions that still require proper answers”.

She said “concerns remain around SEND, children’s services, alternative childcare capacity and the financial implications including what funding will actually be available to deliver the proposed mitigation and action points”.

After the Reform cabinet announced the decision, members of the public in the gallery spoke out in outrage.

One woman could be heard saying: “You should be absolutely ashamed of yourselves. Absolutely disgusting.”

She added that at a scrutiny meeting the day before council officers “could not provide one single piece of evidence to back that [the decision] up”. 

Another said: “Where are your PROUD values now?”, in reference to the council’s commitment to being professional, respectful, open and honest, understanding and engaging and “delivering what we say we will”. 

In a post on X, journalist Kevin Maguire wrote: “The Hard Right party’s South Tyneside councillors had the public gallery cleared after angry parents shouted “shame”.”

He added: “You can’t blame migrants for this, Farage.”

Geraldine Kilgour, a Labour councillor for Fellgate and Hedworth ward in South Tyneside, told Left Foot Forward that while the previous Labour administration was reviewing childcare provision, the idea of closing the nurseries “wasn’t even on the lips of anyone on the Labour group”.

“Review of day care centres was, as we were advised, part and parcel of good practice and doing due diligence,” Kilgour said.

The Labour councillor said that “what they [Reform] should have done was review the service, as we said and look to maximising its capabilities”. She said that the decision to close the 10 nurseries was avoidable “without a doubt” and called the move “callous and heartless”.

She added that childcare will now cost parents “a lot more”, with one resident saying they are currently paying £400 per month, but that they could now pay around £1,000 per month at a Private, Voluntary or Independent nursery.

Kilgour also said that Reform is now reviewing milk provision for under 5s, which is a statutory service. “There’s something amiss, I think they’re targeting the most vulnerable,” Kilgour said.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward