More special needs nursery places for Dudley, says education boss
More nursery places for children with special needs should be created in Dudley, the borough's education chief said today, as a fresh consultation with parents got under way.
Councillor Tim Crumpton has pledged to review the services on offer to families.
It comes after the council made a u-turn on plans to scrap free transport to nurseries following a petition signed by more than 800 people.
Councillor Crumpton said the consultation had highlighted the need to look at how services could be improved as he believed there was a shortage of nursery places in the borough.
"We are are going to look at the wider picture. We need extra places and some of the children need help with transport, we know this, so we are going to look at what changes or improvements we need to make.
"I am going to meet a group of parents to discuss the outcomes of the first consultation and discuss what we are going to do next."
Councillor Crumpton said he was keen to get as many views as possible .
"The consultation has offered tremendous value on many levels and has highlighted to everyone the undoubted quality of our early years services.
"It has raised a tough debate around how we deliver education for children with additional needs. We will now be gathering the information from the consultation before sitting down to consult further with colleagues in the council's scrutiny committee and with parents to see how we can best move forward.
"We made it clear from the outset that no child would be denied access to these nurseries because of money and that we would continue to provide support where it is needed. We know we need to look at the service in the wider context and this may involve re-modelling it to ensure everyone has access to these much-valued services," he added.
Dudley Council originally proposed the transport service for children attending specialist nurseries be cut as part of its budget proposals for 2015/16.
But the scheme was withdrawn following consultations with parents and the tabling of an amendment by the borough's Conservative group at a full council meeting last week. The controlling Labour group accepted the amendment and it was passed by councillors.
Parents attending the full council meeting cheered as they heard the amendment had been supported.
The authority currently pays for dozens of children with additional needs to travel to specialist nurseries in the borough but says it is not legally required to do so.
