‘Millmead Children’s Centre has been a lifeline, please don’t shut us down’

HUBS Jan Collins and Cllr Barry Lewis — Centre manager Jan Collins with Cllr Barry Lewis Photo LDRS

Children’s centres in two of the county’s most deprived areas face an uncertain future as Kent County Council strives to find savings of £100 million over the next two years.

But the potential loss of the Family Hubs at Millmead at Margate and Seashells in Sheerness could deliver a devastating blow to those who need them most, as Local Democracy Reporter Simon Finlay and Gabriel Morris discovered…

Down the cool corridors on one of the hottest days of an otherwise forgettable summer, the sound of children at play is strangely calming.

There are baby noises amongst the chattering of mothers and staff busying themselves here and there.

Beyond the serene ordinariness, there is a pervasive sense of kindness and, of course, love.

The centres are built on foundations of hope, good intentions and, crucially, the common denominator – poverty.

On one level, these are indeed pleasant places to congregate, amuse children and provide common sense advice to parents getting by, day to day.

In some cases, especially in Margate, they help ensure vulnerable people do not go hungry.

Yet the one thing that allows them to survive is also what will shut services down – money.

For Seashells, on the edge of housing just outside Sheerness’s town centre, the loss of £200,000 Kent County Council (KCC) funding does not necessarily spell the end, as it has many other aspects to its business model. The service to parents and children will be lost but the centre will continue to operate.

An hour down the road at Millmead in Margate, a building perched stolidly on the flanks of the Dane Valley housing estate, there’s a resignation that if KCC’s plans come to pass, it almost certainly will be curtains.

Stoic and realistic, manager Jan Collins rates her chances of overturning the KCC proposal as “about 5%”.

She has 27 staff and seven volunteers whose roles are likely to be under threat, not to mention the 62 nursery places, unconnected to the Family Hub, which will also have to close. In short, the entire operation will shut down to save KCC about £225,000.

The “pantry” at the rear where a foodbank and subscription food service operates from will also be at risk.

But Jan, with the help of local KCC member, Cllr Barry Lewis, is mobilising a team to go door to door to get local people to fill in the consultation questionnaire provided by the council.

Cllr Lewis says: “This is going to be a disaster for the local community, no doubt about it.”

They’re not looking for a fight but hope that power of reasoned persuasion may prompt a rethink.

Jan adds: “Everyone knows we are going to close. We’re realistic but we have to get as many local people to engage in the consultation as we can.”

Closure, she argues, will merely cost more in the long run to other services, be it social services, the NHS or the police.

A shining example of the good the place does is Chloe Mathews (pictured), who as a troubled teenager fell pregnant at 16. She attended Millmead as a child, ended up as a volunteer and more recently as a paid member of staff.

“I cried to my line manager when I found out,” says the single mother-of-three.

“When I was younger I became a bit of a crazy wild child but this place was always here to help. I was accepted here.

“If it goes, the impact will be massive to this community.”

KCC has been able to offer alternatives elsewhere but Chloe doubts many Millmead users would have the wherewithal to get to them.

She adds: “The consultation process is pretty much just going through the motions, if I’m honest. It’s heartbreaking.”

On a guided tour of the nursery, Jan explains it is not just the children coming here who are anxious, hungry or poorly turned out, it is the parents too.

“This is what poverty and deprivation looks like.”

Acting Family Hub manager at Seashells, Ian Townsend-Blazier because Seashells and Millmead are externally funded, he said both are “sitting ducks” for KCC cuts.

Most parents and staffers seem to think the loss of the centres for the sake of a £426,000 saving is too big a price to pay.

Yet KCC is staring into the abyss. The Local Government Information Unit regards it as a “perfectly well-run council” but under-funded from the national pot.

Council insiders will tell you that they are all too aware they have to find ways of making savings, even at the expense of services they would rather keep.

One says: “Look, do we want to shut these Family Hubs down? No, of course not. They do a fantastic job – we know that. But we’re backed into a corner we don’t want to be in.

“We’re doing our best to provide the same services to people in a different way but for a lot of people, that’s not what they want.”

The next two years could prove critical for KCC’s survival. If the authority cannot balance the books and provide the services, such as adult social care, it has to by law, then the alternative is bankruptcy.

For the users of Millmead and Seashells, the race is on to provide the justification for keeping them. The consultation runs out on September 22.

Sue Chandler, cabinet member for integrated children’s services says in a statement: “Following the introduction of our new Family Hub model across Kent last year, the management cost for these two commissioned services creates a duplication and KCC is also paying for the management of the in-house services on offer at KCC Family Hubs across the Districts of Swale and Thanet.

“By not renewing these contracts when they naturally come to an end in March 2025, we can make a much-needed efficiency saving whilst continuing to provide essential services for families and young people in these areas.”

For Chloe Mathews, as she contemplates her own future, her message is clear: “Millmead has been a lifeline for me and for many others like me. Please, please don’t shut us down.”