Protest Held Against Proposed Closures of 13 Children's Centres
Parents, staff and children gather outside Ealing Council headquarters
Protestors hold up a banner outside Perceval House
May 17, 2025
A demonstration was held this Wednesday afternoon 14 May following the confirmation from Ealing Council that it is proposing to close 13 of the borough’s 25 children’s centres.
Parents and children, trade unionists and community campaigners gathered outside the council offices in a protest organised by Save Ealing Children’s Centres (SECC) an umbrella group is supported by a range of community organisations in the borough.
Speakers at the rally, who included parents and users of the children’s centres services, told a crowd of more than 75 people how vital they had found the children’s centres for their families and communities.
Raj Chana, a parent and parent governor at Greenfields Nursery School and Children's Centre in Southall, one of the centres threatened with closure, said, “Four out of six children's centres are proposed to close or be repurposed in Southall. Yet Ealing Council claims this will improve early help services and reach more young children and families. How does that make sense? Repurposing will effectively close a children’s centre to current and future young children and their families, and remove access to vital and much valued children’s centre services in their local area.”
SECC member Clare Welsby said, “Dismantling services for the very youngest children and families goes against all the evidence that the early years are fundamental in giving all children the best start in life, and threatens their human rights to health, education and family life, risking increasing health and education inequalities. How can this improve early help to the families who may need it most?”
Ealing Council held a public consultation on the proposed changes to children’s centres which concluded at the end of last month, but SECC has questioned the validity of the exercise and has called for the consultation period to be extended with improved community engagement on the proposes changes. SECC wants to see the council meeting with it and other key stakeholder groups to discuss how the early help offer could be improved without closing or repurposing more than half of the borough’s children’s centres.
Protestors hold up a banner outside Perceval House
“We sent an invitation to all Ealing Councillors, signed by 30 local organisations and community groups including the National Education Union and schools,” added Ms Welsby. “We are demonstrating today because the Council has so far failed to engage with us.”
Lib Dem councillor Jonathan Oxley, is calling for a cross-party review of these changes saying that the consultation seemed to be lacking supporting data about outcomes.
He said, “We would welcome the adoption of a cross-party approach that engaged political parties, residents, families and campaigners. We think these proposed Labour-run Ealing Council changes will touch the lives of many and as such warrants further engagement to ensure that unintended consequences and increased negative outcomes do not result.”
Craig Smith, an organiser for SECC and Campaigns Officer for Ealing Trades Union Council, described the consultation process as “fundamentally dishonest”. He said, “Ealing Council has shown it is capable of the cruellest cuts to vital public services and to staff jobs in its pursuit of cost savings. There is evidence that the Council has already earmarked the savings from closing children’s centres in its budgeting for the next few years. You can’t hold an open and honest public consultation when you have effectively already banked the cash.”
Ealing Council is being forced to propose closures due to financial pressures which could see its budget shortfall rise to £57.7million. Children’s services are expected to bear the largest share of the cuts required to reduce the deficit, with £27.8 million in savings targeted, including £11.8 million in the next 12 months .
Under the new proposals, services would be concentrated in 12 key centres, selected based on accessibility, usage, and facility suitability . The remaining centres may be repurposed for other uses, with services potentially delivered through community venues like libraries or health centres .
Ealing Council maintains that the restructuring aims to provide more sustainable and effective early help services, ensuring that families receive the support they need when and where they need it. It is currently analysing the comments given to the consultation which ended on 27 April. The dates for any closures are yet to be set. It’s unclear if any changes will be made to the closure plans as a result of the consultation.
Another demonstration by SECC is planned for Tuesday, 10 June, ahead of Ealing Council’s next full council meeting at the Town Hall.
Written with contributions from Philip James Lynch
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |