Bracknell

Work on Bracknell Forest’s first children’s centre will get under way this month after plans were given the green light.

Planning permission for The Rowans Children’s Centre, which is the first of six that will be set up in Bracknell Forest, was granted in February and work is now under way on the building works.

Based at the Fox Hill Primary School site in Easthampstead, Bracknell, the centre will bring together services for children aged 0 to 5 under one roof. It will serve the communities of Easthampstead, Wildridings, Crown Wood, Harmans Water, Forest Park and Martins Heron.

It will be home to an early years and childcare team, family outreach worker and local health visitors with facilities for school nurses and other professionals.

Speech and language therapists and other professionals will hold clinics and there will a hall for training courses and group work, a drop-in family room and a training kitchen.

The Rowans is set to open in September and will be followed soon after by The Oaks Children’s Centre at Great Hollands School serving the communities of Great Hollands, Birch Hill and Hanworth. Plans are being finalised and were set to be submitted to the Council this month.

A further four centres serving Bracknell town centre, Sandhurst, Crowthorne and the northern parts of the borough will be offering services by the end of 2008.

Cllr Dr Gareth Barnard, Executive Member for Bracknell Children’s Services: "Children’s centres will bring together key services in one place making it easier for parents and carers to get the help and support that they and their children need.

"The centres are an important part of our work to bring together our services with those provided by health professionals and the voluntary sector. And I am confident our local communities will take great benefit from them."

Bracknell Forest Borough Council