The Ladder Children's Centre slated for closure by @haringeycouncil - please complete survey. No kids required

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Permalink Reply by GenevieveP on July 15, 2015 at 17:18

Another thought... has anyone considered a legal challenge? I don't practice judicial review but, if someone could help me with the factual background and research into how the decision came to be made, I am happy to put in some hours of legal research.   

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Permalink Reply by Zoi on July 16, 2015 at 7:50

It's heartening to see your posts. The Haringey Children's Centres Alliance brings together the activity in this area. South Grove CC has been very active in their campaign, have a look at their film. There was a demonstration after the cut to the CC bugdet went through without consultation last year and there were deputations to the Cabinet. There was a rally and deputation at the Cabinet meeting where they Council agreed to the consultation. There was a high level of activity before and around that. But it's not really sustainable over the school holidays. Right now the focus is to try to get as many people as possible to respond to the consultation and "strongly not support" the Council's proposals. There's so much that people can do in this area on an individual basis. There was some talk of a legal challenge to the consultation but I don't think we have a lawyer on this yet. I would be happy to organise a meeting to give you some good background information. In the meantime you can find lots about past activities on Twitter @zoi.fletcher or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Just-a-Haringey-mum/475316419309257?...

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Permalink Reply by GenevieveP on July 16, 2015 at 11:37

Hi Zoi,

Please do arrange a meeting. I am a barrister and, although I practise general civil law and have no public law expertise, I am more than capable of doing the initial legal research required to ascertain whether there is a case worth pursuing.

Are you aware of any other concerned individuals with legal training?

I am around until end of July but then away for August. Maybe best to wait until September, as you say, after the school holidays have finished.

My email address is genevieveparke@hotmail.com if you would like to get in touch either now or after the summer.

Genevieve

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Permalink Reply by Zena Brabazon on July 16, 2015 at 21:32

Hi Genevieve 

Any plan or proposal to close children's centres has to go through statutory consultation which I believe is 90 days. Children's centres were given a statutory basis when they were established. The Council's 'consultation' started around June 21 and is due to run till September 21. That means a fair chunk of the formal period is the school holidays - 6 weeks or 42 days.  It is obvious to everyone that not much consulting will happen over the six weeks so it is not surprising people are cynical. 

There may be other aspects of the process process which are questionable. For example, many families using the centres do not have access to the internet - yet  this is the main tool for consulting people so we have had to print forms ourselves. I'd have thought that was the Council's job if it wanted to hear from as many people as possible. 

There are loads of issues as well regarding the detail of these proposals,both for the centres  which they plan to retain as hubs, and those which they see as being reduced to 'delivery sites' (like The Ladder, South Grove and Earlsmead).  Also, there is the question of whether the council will actually change anything if the consultation is overwhelmingly in support of centres remaining open.  

I am around during July and am in touch with Zoi.

Zena 

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Permalink Reply by wholepint on July 17, 2015 at 11:39

Just to add to your good point about those who don't have internet access - for those of us who do have access the site seems fairly unreliable. I haven't checked again (so apologies to Haringey Council if they've since fixed it) but when I did try to use the website a couple of weeks ago to fill in the survey, the buttons to move forward in the survey kept disappearing. I had about 4 attempts and then gave up.

I'm going to try again over the weekend but it doesn't fill me with confidence that they want responses over a web form that doesn't work in a standard browser. 

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Permalink Reply by wholepint on July 16, 2015 at 14:04

I tried to fill this in a few weeks ago and kept having problems - will try again. Here's what I copied and pasted from the webpage before it crashed... 

Considering there have already been cuts to health visitors and home visits in the borough (compared to neighbouring boroughs like Islington and Hackney who I also assume are facing cuts from central government), considering the high profile failings where two Haringey children have died, considering Tottenham has something like 46% child poverty... I find these proposals shocking. Woodlands Park is already oversubscribed when you try to attend a session there - in fact workers there ask people living nearer the Ladder centre to try and use that instead, which suggests we need more staff and sessions for parents in this area, not less. I have travelled to other centres in the borough to access breastfeeding support when I need it - when you start breastfeeding you need that support ASAP - you can't wait a week until the session is closer to you. Children's centres are invaluable for me and other parents in Haringey in accessing peer support and advice and staying sane - cutting these services will only result in higher costs in the long term. 

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