PARENTS and staff at a Kendal nursery earmarked for closure are fighting for the much-loved facility to stay open.

Mums, dads and carers with children at Meadowview Nursery have been informed that the Appleby Road centre will close its doors on July 20.

In a letter written on behalf of the directors of Meadowview, Stephen Wilkinson said: “The difficulties of balancing ever increasing costs, in particular the annual rise in the living wage, against the new 30 hour offer of ‘free’ childcare has proved impossible to manage.

“The amount per hour for the government funded hours is set at £4 and this is fixed until at least 2020.

“We have little opportunity to generate further income and have therefore taken the extremely hard, but unavoidable, decision to close.”

Nursery manager Erika Clement said that it was ‘really shocking’ for herself, staff and parents.

“We have 65 children on the register and all of them need to find new nurseries and obviously there’s not enough nurseries in Kendal,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking.”

In order to fight the closure, Ms Clement set up a petition that has amassed more than 1,500 signatures.

“We are part of the community,” she said. “I’ve got amazing staff here. I love working with the children, seeing them grow and the little smile on their face when they achieve something.

“I’m really hoping the petition might do something. I can’t give up without a fight.”

Kendal mum Victoria Sewell is one of the parents affected by the news.

Her 14-month-old daughter, Nell, has been at the nursery for two months.

“She adores going in there,” she said.

“She gives the staff cuddles, she’s obviously very content there and I think the thing that reassures me is that they meet the children’s needs and adapt to routines that have been set at home.”

Ms Sewell said it was of ‘local importance’ to keep facilities like Meadowview open as they allowed parents the flexibility to work.

She added if the closure was a question of finances, parents would like the opportunity to raise the money to buy the nursery or contribute more to subsidise care.

“Everyone was shell shocked and I think now people are starting to feel a little bit more angry and would like to see the finances, it ought to be transparent and to know how big the deficit is,” she said.

Following the reaction from staff and parents, Mr Wilkinson sent a secondary letter on Tuesday (May 1), explaining that directors would be considering all of the suggested options.

“Options that will be considered include any interest of another owner coming forward to take on the business,” he wrote.

“This would be an arrangement between the shareholders and the new owner, though as directors we would co-operate fully in any negotiations.”

He said that parents contributing money may not be ‘sustainable’ but it would be considered.

Mr Wilkinson made clear that there was no ‘hidden agenda’ surrounding the closure and there was no intention of the land being sold for development.

“I share with all of you and our staff the hope that an alternative can be found to closure of our wonderful nursery,” he wrote. “However, I cannot in all honesty guarantee this outcome, but will work tirelessly to see if that can be achieved.”

The nursery is now in a four-week consultation process in which ways in which redundancies can be avoided will be considered.