Burgess Hill ‘must fight to keep children and family centres’

West Sussex County Council is looking to redesign its Early Help offering, which it says aims to improve the services offered to the most vulnerable children and families, making sure they receive the help they need.

However as part of these plans all Find It Out youth advise centres would close, while both of Burgess Hill’s children and family centres, at The Gattons and Sidney West, would also shut, along with Sussex Downs in Hurstpierpoint.

The only remaining centre in Mid Sussex would be the one in Haywards Heath.

This week Anne Jones, Tory county councillor for Burgess Hill East, has spoken out against the proposed closures saying she ‘could not sit back and lose’ the centres.

She believes Mid Sussex already a ‘paucity’ of services compared to other parts of the county.

She said: “It may be some of what West Sussex and my colleagues are proposing I can support and will be better, but I don’t agree with the closure of the centres we have fought to get in Burgess Hill. We need them for now and for future generations, and we need to run them well.”

Cllr Jones has a long background in the area of children’s services as she founded mother and toddler groups, which were then replicated all across the country.

She was also heavily involved in the decision to open services at Sidney West in the first place.

Rather than fewer services running out of the centres, she thought their remit could actually be widened and be a place where ‘children know where to go and know as somewhere they can get advice’.

She suggested more services could be linked up, for instance mental health support or citizens advice.

She also believed strongly in keeping a physical location where parents in need of help or support can turn up to.

With the first few years of a child’s life crucial to their overall development, she believes in many cases it may not be obvious parents need support until they get up close to other people.

She added: “Centres are absolutely crucial. I’m tired of hearing: ‘We do need these buildings because there are other facilities’. We have not got enough facilities.”

The county council has promised to carry out extensive public consultation before any changes are made and Cllr Jones urged Burgess Hill residents to make their views known.

She added: “If you lose the building we have lost that facility and it’s gone for good.”