Children’s services are set to continue at the Taylors Gully Childcare Centre in Stawell, as a result of a new lease agreement between the Northern Grampians Shire Council and Grampians YMCA.
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Council agreed at its meeting on Monday night to enter into the lease with Grampians YMCA for the use of a designated part of 87 D’Arcy Street, Stawell as part of a program to maximise the use of existing facilities at the centre.
The move comes after council announced in July that it could no longer sustain managing children’s services at the centre and would move to close that section of Taylors Gully down at the end of the school year.
Cr Wayne Rice said he welcomed the move, which followed a difficult decision by council.
“This did come as a very difficult decision for the council to make,” he said.
“However, what we are trying to achieve from this lease agreement is the best outcome for this community.”
Cr Rice said the Grampians YMCA aimed to develop a community hub at the facility including the provision of activities for all generations of the community.
“The YMCA will offer services at the centre that were not previously offered as a long day care centre,” he said.
Cr Rice said specific programs and services will be targeted at improving health and social outcomes along with more broad reaching programs such as education for new parents.
The Grampians YMCA will also work collaboratively with the current tenants being the Stawell and District Pre-School Association and Northern Grampians Shire Council Maternal and Child Health Services.
“The lease arrangement provides an opportunity for people who lost their jobs at the centre, to apply to get them back again,” Cr Rice said.
“The services the Grampians YMCA can offer, with their 700 facilities they have, is also a real bonus for this shire.
“There is an opportunity not only for people to be employed again, but this presents a whole range of options to be presented at 87 Darcy Street.
“The Grampians YMCA will provide a better level of services than we previously had and that can only be of benefit for Stawell and the Northern Grampians Shire.”
Mayor Cr Murray Emerson said the decision to close down the childcare services at the centre was very difficult, but he was pleased that the Grampians YMCA had put forward an expression of interest.
“The closure of Taylors Gully was one of the hardest decisions we’ve made in my three years in local government,” Cr Emerson said.
“It was a decision we put off for a couple of years, but when we looked at the bottom line, a $500,000 loss to our community to substantiate keeping open a childcare centre that didn’t have enough children, that’s how the decision came about.
“From my point of view, the hard decision we had to make a couple of months ago is now turning into a decision that is quite manageable and the right one for this community.”
The lease will commence on January 1, 2016 and services will commence in February 2016.