Meeting documents

1 THE ISSUE

1.1 Co-location of family support services at a children's centre on the new Keynsham school site (Kelston Road) to improve service integration and efficiency and outcomes for children and families.

2 RECOMMENDATION

2.1 To approve the linked sale of Hazelwood Family Centre premises in Keynsham and investment of all proceeds in the provision of comprehensive children's centre services co-located with the new Keynsham Primary School and

2.2 To recommend to Council approval of the reservation for the creation of the facilities of the capital receipt referred to in Paragraph 3.1 below as required by the Budget Management Scheme

3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

3.1 In order to create comprehensive children's centre services co-located with the new primary school in Keynsham, the linked sale of Hazelwood premises and creation of space for children's centre services at the new school site is necessary. Proceeds from the sale of the Hazelwood premises, estimated at £300,000, will all be invested in the children's centre accommodation.

3.2 The approval of Council is required to the ringfencing of the capital receipt in this manner.

4 THE REPORT

4.1 It is planned to provide a comprehensive children's centre service on the same site as the new school in Keynsham. This plan requires the family support service at Hazelwood Family Centre to be moved to the new school site which requires sufficient capacity to be created at the site.

4.2 This development has been envisaged since before Hazelwood day nursery became a family centre (see Early Years Development Proposals August 2005).

4.3 The centre provides comprehensive family support services for young children and their families and the relocated service will provide the same services.

4.4 The Hazelwood Family Centre premises will not be required once the new service is established, and it is proposed to link the investment to enable the services to be co-located with the sale of these premises to enable this development to go ahead.

4.5 The establishment of a children's centre at Keynsham was approved by Council Executive on 17th October 2005.

5 RISK MANAGEMENT

6 RATIONALE

6.1 Establish comprehensive children's centre services co-located with the new primary school in Keynsham. This will achieve more integrated and efficient service delivery for children and families leading to improved outcomes for children.

7 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED

7.1 The alternative is to retain Hazelwood Family Centre at its current site and not create space to accommodate this service alongside the new school. This option means the opportunity to create comprehensive children's centre services co-located with the school will be missed and joint working of services will be less effective.

8 CONSULTATION

8.1 None.