'Not sustainable' - Reform council leader on axing of Stanley's nurseries

South Tyneside’s Reform council leader has broken his silence in the face of a backlash to defend the axing of local authority-led childcare provision.

Cllr Paul Mackings said a “tough decision” was needed around the Stanley’s centres and blamed the council’s financially perilous state that led to it on the previous Labour administration.

In a joint statement with Cllr Michelle Fascione, Cabinet Member for Children, Families, Education and Skills, he also claimed the future of the provision had been “kicked down the road” for too long.

But he insisted an annual financial subsidy loss to the cash-strapped council of £1.1m for operating Stanley’s – or South Tyneside Accredited Network for Learning in the Early Years - was not sustainable.

During a heated debate at South Shields Town Hall on Wednesday, September 23, the council’s Cabinet voted to close all 10 nurseries from next July.

It came after a report found the service was not financially sustainable and sufficient good-quality private childcare places were available.

South Tyneside Council has also argued it does not have a statutory obligation to provide nursery places and that the private sector can fulfil demand.

However, vociferous opponents fear many children will be left without affordable or sufficient places when closure comes.

In their statement, Cllr Mackings and Cllr Fascione said: “We understand how strongly parents, staff and the wider community place value on the nurseries and we carefully considered all of the information available to us.

“We needed to make a tough decision which the last Labour administration had been kicking down the road for some time.

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“As a Council, we needed to take responsibility for an unsustainable service and make this difficult decision based on the facts in the financial report.

“However, the service had been running at a loss of £1.1m over the last three years.

“This is on the backdrop of Reform coming into office in South Tyneside facing a £750 million debt left by the Labour administration.

“Difficult decisions and ones that pain me and my colleagues had to be made.

“Cuts in relation to the nurseries subsidies were agreed by the previous Labour administrations in their Medium Term Financial Plans (MTFP).

“In February 2025 (for 25/26) cuts of £254k, and then again February 2026 (for 26/27) cuts of £764k, with an eventual move to zero subsidy.

“This was voted for by Labour Councillors, including Cllr Geraldine Kilgour.

“We will work hard with Council staff to ensure we find a place for every child affected by the nursery closure.”

Cllr Kilgour, Labour's only councillor in South Tyneside, has been a fierce critic of the closure proposal.

In reply to the statement, she said: “This is yet more deflective misinformation from the Reform Leadership in South Tyneside. At no point is it cited that a cut to Stanley’s was intended.

“Cllrs Mackings and Fascione know for a fact they could have made in year changes to save Stanley’s, just like the changes they made this week.

“This is a political choice they’ve made, and now have to live with.”