Unfortunately, due to extreme financial pressures, we will have to close four of our eight crèche facilities in June 2008.

Despite having performed exceptionally well over the past 10 years, experiencing substantial growth in both use and income, the collective pressures of ever-increasing utility and other costs, together with pressures on local government funding (which in turn impact on our own), have forced us to take a number of actions that are vital to our continued ability to provide good quality leisure services across Edinburgh.

These tough decisions were based on identifying those areas where maximum savings could be made with the minimum disruption to services and, hence, our customers. We are, of course, fully aware that this, as will any decision of this nature, will have an impact on some customers.

To give you a little background, our crèche services attracted 18,500 visits in 2006-07, requiring a total subsidy of almost £245,000, i.e. £13 per customer per visit – 6.5 times the average subsidy per visit across all services. To achieve a similar level of savings, we would need to consider closing, for example, both Gracemount Leisure Centre and Dalry Leisure Centre which, together, have a total of 370,000 visits per year.

Despite this, every effort has been made to maintain a level of service and so, having listened to the views and ideas expressed by our customers, we have taken the decision to retain the crèches at four leisure centres, namely: Portobello Swim Centre, Gracemount, Ainslie Park and Drumbrae Leisure Centres – offering a good geographical split while retaining in excess of 50% of our existing service.

For this to be financially viable, however, we will have to raise the price of each crèche visit by £2 (across the board) from 1^st April*. We appreciate the potential impact that this may have on demand for the service and will continue to review the situation over the coming months.

This has been an especially difficult decision for us, particularly given the high regard in which these services, and the staff that deliver them, are held by our customers and by us. That said, our commitment to working with the City Council, and others, towards helping the people of Edinburgh to lead a healthier, happier lifestyle remains as strong as ever.

*For further information on our crèche services, including our revised prices, please click here.