SENIOR councillors are expected to rubber stamp the closure of Southend’s second busiest children’s centre tomorrow.
Southend Council’s Tory cabinet is expected to agree the closure of Hamstel Children’s Centre, in Southchurch, to save £64,500 on Tuesday.
Temple Sutton Children’s Centre looks set to be kept open after 2,440 people backed it with a petition and 295 children from the Temple Sutton Primary School, which shares the same site in Eastern Avenue, wrote letters of support to the authority.
Some children’s centre services will be offered from “satellite” sites, including Hamstel infant and junior schools, which share the same site as the children’s centre, and St Luke’s Health Centre, in Pantile Avenue, to help provide for parents nearby after the children’s centre closes.
The cabinet will also look again at its decision, made in June, to close the Leigh and Shoebury children’s centres after an outcry from opposition councils, but the closures are unlikely to be overturned.
The public meeting at the Civic Centre in Victoria Avenue starts at 2pm.
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