Parents in Fintry and Aberfoyle have been breathing a sigh of relief this week after a Stirling Council budget U-turn halted controversial changes to local nursery opening hours.
Fintry Parent Council had said the nursery opening hours in the village being reduced from 8-6pm Monday-Friday to 9-3pm Monday-Friday would seriously hinder working parents, who would no longer be able to pay for extra days or hours beyond their state-funded nursery hours.
Meanwhile children returning to Aberfoyle Nursery would have had the 8am-6pm maintained next year only, with Fintry youngsters not being offered that option.
The measures had been agreed at the beginning of March as part of Stirling Council’s 2023/24 budget, with the minority Labour administration blaming extreme budget pressures and Scottish Government ringfencing on having to focus on only statutory obligations.
This, and a host of other unpopular budget cuts, were reversed at a special council meeting last Thursday, however, after councillors agreed to reallocate £392,000 that was to have been given to Sistema Scotland, who deliver Raploch and Fallin Big Noise programmes. This followed an announcement by the Scottish Government that it would provide £1.5m of funding to Sistema to deliver the Big Noise projects in 2023/24.
Mairead Cameron, co-chair of Fintry Parent Council said: “We’re absolutely delighted that the council have seen sense and reinstated the 8am to 6pm operating hours at Fintry Nursery.
“Working parents in rural villages rely on these longer hours to enable them to continue to work and contribute to society.”
Aberfoyle parent Catherine Cairns said parents were “hugely relieved”.
She added: “Had the cuts gone ahead, we would have either been forced to take our daughter out of Aberfoyle Nursery where she is thriving and building relationships with her future school peers or cut our working hours.
“Maintaining the current nursery provision means that young working families will not be deterred from moving to the area and will continue to add their valuable contribution to the local community.”
As the original budget decision taken by council was less than six months ago, two thirds of councillors had to agree to revoke it before the new motion could be considered.
Stirling Council leader, Labour councillor Chris Kane, said: “This budget for the coming year was painful to set, but the funding settlement from the Scottish Government left us no option other than to take tough decisions on a range of local services.
“The news of £1.5m of national funding for Big Noise allowed us to revisit a small number of decisions for the coming year in Stirling.
“I recognise that supporters of the services given a reprieve will be relieved, but others will be disappointed at the savings that remain.
“With the ongoing uncertainty of local government finance, it’s important we continue to take steps to secure the council’s long-term sustainability as we look to the 2024/25 budget.”
Other budget measures which will not now go ahead because of the U-turn include: an increase in non-statutory childcare fees or MECS charges; removal of the Springkerse ‘Park and Ride’ bus service; reduction in the budgets of the Smith Museum, Stirlingshire Voluntary Enterprise, Stirling Community Enterprise and events including book and science festivals; removal of the 100 per cent bulky waste uplift subsidy for over-60s; full cost recovery for the Bridge of Allan allotment site; and reduction to universal youth provision.
