Aberdeenshire nursery parents win review but concerns remain

Aberdeenshire Council has agreed to pause the mothballing of four rural nurseries.

Parents were told in April that Ballogie, Crossroads, Glass and Sandhaven nurseries would close at the end of term.

Councillors have now agreed to put those decisions on hold while it reviews its guidance around how it consults with families.

Campaigners have welcomed the move, but said they had lost confidence in the local authority.

At a special meeting of the full council, councillors agreed to pause all future mothballing – which means closing premises but keeping them in a condition ready for future use – while a review of guidance was carried out.

During the meeting, councillors on the local authority’s ruling administration decided not to allow members of the public to give their views.

Campaigner and parent Lindsay Love told BBC Scotland News: ”We all came hoping to speak on behalf of our communities and we were silenced.”’

She said she had mixed emotions about the decision to pause mothballing.

Ms Love said: ”I’m nervous that they are actually going to move forward with integrity. I feel like they’re trying to control the narrative now.

“We just need to make sure that we’re protecting our nurseries and our rural communities as best as we can.”

She added: “Whilst is it a good thing that they’ve decided to pause the mothballing, I don’t have a huge amount of confidence in them as an institution to do the right thing.”

Council leader Gillian Owen said the council had carefully reflected on what parents had been calling for.

No timescale was given for the review.

Ms Owen said: ”I think we’re looking at doing a review quite swiftly but we’ve got to wait for the Scottish government guidelines.”

She denied families had been “silenced” by not being allowed to speak at the meeting.

The councillor added: “We’ve actually made the changes that they want.

”They must look at that as an actual celebration, not as a slight.”

When the move to mothball the nurseries was announced at the start of the Easter school holidays, it sparked a backlash from local communities.

Since then, families have been campaigning to keep them open, arguing the decision was made without proper consultation.

The Scottish government also wrote to Aberdeenshire Council to highlight the need to consult parents in such cases.

Last week, the local authority’s ruling administration said it wanted to pause the controversial plans.