EXCLUSIVE: Edinburgh Council needs to create 4,000 nursery spaces by 2020

Forth News can exclusively reveal that Edinburgh Council needs to find over 4,000 new nursery places by 2020 to meet demand.

The strain is due to a rising birth rate, continuing rising rolls, a growing demand for nursery places and an increase in the number of hours required to be provided for early learning and childcare.

In response to the Scottish Government's commitment to increasing funded nursery hours to 1140 by 2020, the Council is proposing an expansion plan to provide the additional hours, and this will be discussed by Councillors on the Education, Children and Families Committee next week.

The plan includes the creation of 12 new nurseries and the employment of 800 staff members to meet demand.

Education Convenor Ian Perry says: "It'll be a mixture of finding new sites and expanding existing nurseries. We're working out a plan now as to how to make that happen but as of now, I don't have any information on where they will be or the schedule.

"It's just a matter of working out the rationale and the logistics of what we have to do.

"Finding staff will be the main constraint to how fast we can develop. Obviously of there is a lot of people out there that want to work in this sector, that will speed things up. But that will be a big constraint."

Claire Taylor has been forced to send her young son to a private nursery after struggling to find a space for him. She says: "I have three older kids and never had any issues.

"I just didn't realise there wasn't many places available now. I know a lot of schools have nurseries attached but our catchment school doesn't, which makes it harder because there are more people looking for nurseries in the area.

"I just feel like for a lot of parents they won't be able to afford private nurseries. It is more expensive if you go down that route."