Angry parents who feel they have been “duped” by the owners of a private nursery school in St Andrews are threatening legal action for breach of contract.
It came as Fife Council confirmed it is also seeking legal advice concerning the nursery.
The Courier told how the parents of 82 children at the Wonder Years Nursery feel as if they have been “kicked in the teeth”, after it emerged they have less than four weeks to find new nurseryaccommodation for their children.
Now, because the parents have been given less than a month’s notice to find alternative nursery places, they believe that the Wonder Years owners have broken a contractual agreement.
A group of parents has also contacted Fife Council to see if anything can be done to force the nursery to stay open longer. They also want London-based developer Alumno Developments to suspend planned demolition work until the issues have been resolved. The nursery is to be demolished within weeks to make way for a multi-million-pound student residence and a new nursery that will not open until 2015.
Several parents told The Courier on Thursday the owners have reneged on a promise that alternative nursery provision would be provided during the construction phase. Parents were told by Wonder Years this week that no interim nursery provision would now be provided.
One parent, who was among 40 who attended a meeting arranged by the owners on Thursday night, told The Courier yesterday the owners admitted they had decided five months ago not to go ahead with interim accommodation. Parents were told at the meeting the costs could have been up to £600,000.
The parent said: “If they had decided not to do it five months ago, then why on earth did they not tell us? We could have spent the last five months trying to find new nursery places. Now, we are involved in a mad scramble trying to find places for 82 children.”
The parent, who asked not to be named, said an offer had been made on Thursday night by the chairman of the meeting to accommodate some children at her nursery in Dundee. But the parent added: “This would be nonsensical. She said she would put them on a bus. But how can we put our one-year-old on the bus? Would parents not also lose their funding from Fife Council?
“They urged us to support this development application, which we did. Now we feel as if we have been duped.”
Wonder Years Nursery issued a fresh statement, which read: “Wonder Years Nursery remains committed to supporting parents and children in finding alternative childcare during the build period of the new nursery. We have already secured 44 places in local nurseries, with others to be confirmed.
“We will continue to support parents, children and staff during this transition period.”
David Campbell, managing director of Alumno Developments, said: “As part of our plans to create a 135-bedroom student accommodation development, we will build a high-quality, state-of-the-art new nursery, which we are confident will be an asset to the town for many years to come.
“Given the new-build nature of this development, the plans for the East Sands site have always included the demolition of the existing Wonder Years nursery building and this is due to go ahead in the next few months.”
Mr Campbell reiterated that nursery provision was “entirely a matter for the current owners of the nursery”.
St Andrews councillor Dorothea Morrison said: “I find this situation very regrettable. It is difficult to understand why decant arrangements had not been finalised before now, in order to save the parents from the distress, worry and uncertainty they now face.”