Welsh councillors approve expansion of early years provision despite falling birth rate across county

Alec Doyle, Local democracy reporter

Welsh councillors have backed plans to invest in additional early years provision despite falling birth rates across the county.

Three capital projects have been approved by the authority – Ysgol Cae’r Nant in Connah’s Quay, Sealand Youth Centre in Garden City and Ysgol Maesglas, Greenfield to modernise facilities and increase childcare provision for children aged 0-4.

That is despite the number of children within that age group in the county consistently falling.

In 2020 there were 8,287 children aged 0-4 in Flintshire, by 2026 that was forecast to have fallen to around 8,107.

Flintshire Council data also indicates that by 2030-31 more than 30% of the authority’s current school places will be vacant due to falling birthrates.

Cabinet members have approved plans to expand early years provision across the three sites however to meet Welsh Government requirements for early years education.

“While school nursery applications have declined in line with falling birth rates, demand for funded childcare for children aged 0-4 is increasing,” said Craig Macleod, Chief Officer for Flintshire Social Services.

“Rising demand for childcare does not directly correlate with school nursery admissions. Increased uptake in childcare reflects expanded childcare entitlements via Welsh Government policy – including the Flying Start programme – rather than changes in population forecasts.

“Childcare can also be used by parents outside of the school catchment areas based on their employment, family, or training needs.”

The investment – which is anticipated to be funded by Welsh Government grants – will enable delivery of the 3–4-year-old childcare offer programme.

Funded by the Senedd, the programme provides up to 30 hours of funded childcare and early learning for eligible 3-4 year olds over 48 weeks.

It will also allow the expansion of the Flying Start programme, which supports children under four who live in the more disadvantaged areas of Flintshire.

In Sealand specifically, where there has been significant housebuilding on the Airfields site – Flintshire’s Childcare Sufficiency Assessment identified a shortage of local provision for these programmes and limited accessible alternatives.

The approved projects will increase capacity at Sealand to 35 children, while Cae’r Nant and Maesglas will each see capacity increase to 40 children.

“These projects aim to ensure families can access funded childcare in Flying Start areas that have had historically low childcare availability,”said Mr Macleod.

“They focus on childcare provision rather than school nursery places, aiming to improve access, parental choice and children’s long-term development through quality, sustainable childcare in the early years and opportunities to enhance childcare wrap-around for children of school age.

“At Ysgol Cae’r Nant no on-site provision currently exists, Sealand Youth has very limited provision and needs to be upgraded to meet Welsh Government’s Flying Start programme standards while Ysgol Maesglas is currently in an outdated facility and is running at capacity – it needs to expand to support more children.”

Now the proposals have been approved officers will seek Welsh Government support to meet the cost of upgrading the facilities.

“Funding allocations from Welsh Government at this stage cannot be confirmed,” said Mr Macleod. “Each scheme requires an individual business case prior to an agreed funding allocation.

“We will be costing each scheme with contractors and Welsh Government, to enable the scheme to proceed.”