FAMILIES who use Bushy Leaze Children and Families Centre are up in arms over proposals that would transform it into a hub for the whole of East Hampshire resulting, they believe, in the loss of vital early intervention services that benefit hundreds of families in and around Alton.

They also fear the loss of a highly-valued support centre that will have a long-term knock-on effect as unresolved problems develop into something far greater and area likely to have a more costly impact in human and monetary terms higher up the chain.

It is a view supported by Luath Grant Ferguson, who was Bushy Leaze’s first headteacher when it was launched in 1983 by Hampshire County Council and the local health authority to bring together professionals from both authorities, such as early years teachers, specialist assistants and therapists, and by working closely with parents, primary schools and the wider community was able to support young children with non-mainstream needs.

In a letter to the Herald this week, Mr Grant Ferguson recalls how, when the original location on the former Treloar Hospital site became unavailable, the proposal to close Bushy Leaze met fierce community and professional opposition. As a result, the centre was eventually reconstituted in 1996 on its present site adjacent to Anstey School.

Now it is facing a similar crisis, and families who have and do benefit from the remarkable service provided by the centre are ready to fight to keep what Mr Grant Ferguson describes as “a very special place”.

Rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted inspectors and admired and respected by professionals in the field, Bushy Leaze is, according to Mr Grant Ferguson, “greatly valued by the primary schools who receive its children and much loved by the families who need and use it”.

But all that is now at risk due to the need for the county council to cut its children’s services budget by £21.5m.

It is proposed that £8.5m of savings could be delivered by combining children’s centre services, early help hubs and the youth support services to form a single family support service, working out of fewer buildings, and with a streamlined management and operating structure.

There are currently 54 designated children’s centres across Hampshire and the intention is to reduce the number to just 11, one for each district, located where families have high levels of need. And to reduce the overall staffing level by 60 per cent.

In East Hampshire, there are currently three children and families’ centres and the proposal is to close Chase at Bordon and Heath at Petersfield, or to make them available for alternative community use, leaving Bushy Leaze in Alton to provide the family support service hub for the district.

Speaking from personal experience, it is a proposal that current users fear will see the needs of vulnerable parents and children go undetected.

They believe the current system works well in providing support in the early years, when it is most needed, support they say that “has helped so many families” and the loss of which will be “devastating to the local community”.

Hampshire County Council argues that this new model will “better meet the needs of vulnerable families with children aged up to 19 (extending to 25 if the young person has learning difficulties or a disability) while improving access to a range of other services, including the child and adolescent mental health service, and a range of public health and other support services.

But it will see the end of Bushy Leaze as it is now, with many families having to seek services and support elsewhere and/or to pick up the cost of services such as baby speech, healthy eating and lifestyle, parenting and dads’ clubs that the centre has previously provided free of charge and with great success.

Most of all, the families will miss the opportunity to drop in at time of crisis for a chat, to seek advice and peace of mind on an ad hoc basis from experienced and knowledgeable staff who, if they manage to keep their jobs, could find themselves doing outreach work in the surrounding area and be unavailable to meet the needs of families in the Alton area.

Mr Grant Ferguson is appalled to think that having worked so hard to provide a model of good practice the county council is preparing to sacrifice a “widely-admired early years unit for an all-age setting” he believes could not work.

Describing it as “one of Hampshire’s finest achievements”, he said: “Parents have always been at the heart of the Bushy Leaze philosophy. They get to know each other and create mutual support networks without making demands on the authority. The centre’s varied programme supports a wide range of young children, including those with special needs, and prepares them for school. This reduces or removes unnecessary costs when the child enters mainstream education.

“Graded as outstanding by inspectors, this should not, even under modern tight financial conditions, be read simply in educational or care terms. Bushy Leaze was always, and remains, good value for money. A pound not spent on a child at Bushy Leaze is likely to create the need to spend many pounds on that same child in its later years at school. Make no mistake, the high ‘added value’ given to a young child’s potential achievement levels cannot be bought elsewhere.”

For details of the proposals and to take part in an online consultation, visit hants.gov.uk/childrens-services-consultation. For a paper copy, e-mail [email protected] or call 0300 5551384.