A report to go before councillors today is deeply flawed, according to concerned parents bidding to save one of Perthshire’s closure-threatened after-school clubs.
The Errol Kids’ Club Committee believe elected members will be asked to consider incomplete and inaccurate information when they decide on the future of facilities across the region.
They have called on Perth and Kinross Council’s lifelong learning committee to postpone any decision on the club’s future.
Having prepared a study of its finances and ever increasing usage, Carse of Gowrie parents are of the belief it is sustainable.
However they were stunned to find the report prepared for councillors apparently ignores their evidence.
Elected members are being invited to signal the end for kids’ clubs throughout Perth and Kinross.
The council announced its intentions in February, saying it could no longer subsidise a number of loss-making clubs.
That decision was taken as the council detailed plans to cut £23m from its budget over the course of the next three years.
Communities including Abernethy, Birnam and Dunkeld, Blackford, Coupar Angus, Craigie/Moncrieffe in Perth, Crieff, Comrie, Errol, Longforgan and Pitlochry will all find out today how they will be affected.
While the report details the efforts that the council has apparently made to support parents and communities, many parents feel as if they have been let down.
In a letter sent to The Courier and all the committee’s members, Errol Kids’ Club has asked the local authority to think again.
Discussion and two surveys of parents of children attending Errol, Inchture and St Madoes primary schools and all local nurseries have taken place in the Carse of Gowrie.
The result is that parents believe they have found “a strong current and future demand for out of school care in Errol”.
The number of youngsters using the Errol club has risen dramatically in recent months and there are an average of 15 children using the service.
That number is expected to rise further with houses being built in the village and parents confirming their children would use the service.
By August the kids’ club committee is confident the club will be sustainable and will not require any subsidy support.
However parents have been left “extremely disappointed” by information in the report to go before councillors.
While their findings have been presented to the local authority together with information on usage and future projections they fear elected members will not consider them.
A spokesman for the Errol committee said, “We requested that the evidence be made available to councillors in the out of school care report and were given assurances that it would be.
“Having now seen the report this is clearly not the case and we have been left feeling badly let down by the council once again.
“That is why we have been forced to contact councillors directly to ensure they are aware of this important information.
“We are asking the councillors to carefully consider this evidence and to reflect upon their own and the council’s role in supporting communities that depend upon this type of service and the impact the decision will undoubtedly have.
“We hope they have the imagination and independence of mind to keep this service running in Errol and do not just rubber stamp the council’s original, ill-judged decision.
“The sole reason given to justify the club’s closure was one of financial unsustainability.
“In August the club will no longer require a subsidy and therefore the council’s stated reason for closure no longer exists.
“We believe the only reasonable course of action the council can now take is to review the club’s finances and numbers over the next 12 months and postpone any decision on the future of the club until at least this period has expired.”