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18
production for essential home requirements and for export trade.
It was proposed that for the transitional period there should be
an expansion of nursery schools and nursery classes., accompanied
by a corresponding diminution in the number of day nurseries and,
where necessary, the development of subsidiary services such as
occasional creches, daily guardians, and evening "sitters in."
As the provision to be made was a combination of measures,
some of which were within the province of the local education
authority and others within that of the Welfare authority, Councils
were asked to arrange conferences between the two authorities, in
consultation with the Ministry of Labour a'nd National Service, and
to submit schemes for approval. It was stressed that the matter
should be dealt with as one, of urgency, since the financial arrangements
whereby the whole of the approved expenditure on war time
nurseries was reimbursed by the Exchequer would come, to an end
on the 31st March, 1946, after which date financial assistance by the
Government would take the form of a grant of just under 50% of
the costs, and the balance would be borne by the local authority.
A report was submitted to the February meeting of the Child
Welfare Committee, setting out the position in the Acton nurseries,
where the total number of places provided accommodation for 258
children and there was an existing waiting list for a further 238
children. A certain number of children on the registers of the
nurseries were residents of neighbouring boroughs, the mothers being
employed in Acton, but it was decided that in view of the heavy
expenditure falling on the local authority, the parents should be
asked to find nursery accommodation in the boroughs where they
resided.
A proposal was submitted that the nurseries at Bollo Bridge
Road, Horn Lane, and Friars Place Lane should be retained as
such, and that "Longcot" and "The Maples" should be handed
over to the local education authority to be, used as nursery schools.
The owners of No. 1 Birkbeck Road (which had been used to
accommodate the 0-2 group of the combined "Maples" and Birkbeck
Nursery), had asked for its release from requisitioning in order that
it might be put to its former use as a doctor's surgery, and it was
felt that the Council should comply with this request.
After further careful consideration, it was decided that the
exclusion of children under 2 years of age from "Longcot," in the
event of its transfer to the local education authority, would cause
hardship in a number of cases, and it was eventually decided that
the nursery should be retained. As this nursery was used by Acton
and Chiswick mothers in about equal proportions, it was considered
that the Brentford and Chiswick Council might reasonably be