Northern beaches childcare centres fight for survival due to Frenchs Forest hospital roadworks
Childcare centres on the northern beaches are fighting for survival because parents caught in traffic delays due to hospital roadworks are withdrawing their children.
Manly
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CHILDCARE centres have lost close to 70 per cent of their clients because parents are fed up tackling traffic snarls caused by roadworks linked to the new Northern Beaches Hospital.
One family-owned business in Frenchs Forest said it was on the verge of closing its doors after the number of children it looked after dropped from 85 to 28 since the work began.
Claudia Auert, co-owner of the Rodborough Road Children’s Centre, said parents were happy with the care the centre provided, but were pulling their children out because it took too long to drop them off and pick them up.
Ms Auert said child numbers began to drop soon after the roadworks along Warringah, Rodborough and Frenchs Forest roads began last year.
“It’s taking parents another 40 minutes in the morning and 40 minutes in the afternoon to pick up their children,” Ms Auert said.
“The parents are time poor and they tell us: ‘we just can’t be sitting in that traffic for all that time’, so they go somewhere else.
“From where I live it used to take 15 minutes to drive to the centre, but when they changed French Forest Rd to just one-way, it was taking me an hour and 35 minutes to get here.
“Our business is just hanging in there. We’ve lost a fortune.”
Ms Auert said she has had to cut nine staff, down from 18.
The Explore & Develop Early Learning Centre at the western end of Rodborough Rd, said it was also “suffering” because parents were pulling children out.
Beacon Hill mother Susie Ransome, who has her son Lennon, 3, at the Rodborough Road Children’s Centre, said the roadworks had added between 30 and 40 minutes to the journey.
“I love the centre and the staff and kids are great, but it’s a real shame that the parents are having so much trouble getting in and out,” Ms Ransome said.
“The atmosphere and the vibe at the centre is also affected because there are so few kids.”
Ms Auert has joined a class-action lawsuit against the NSW Government, along with 30 other businesses in Frenchs Forest.
They want to be compensated for the disruption caused during the past two years by the $500 million Northern Beaches Hospital Road Connectivity and Network Enhancement Program.
Business owners argue that authorities are “negligent in the management and construction” of the project. Next week they are expected to file a claim in the Supreme Court that the government and its agencies Roads and Maritime Services and Health NSW “failed to take reasonable steps to minimise disruptions”.
Work is expected to continue for another 18 months.
Roads Minister Melinda Pavey said she had yet to see any details of the businesses’ claims. “Of course we apologise for the disruption, and we ask for their patience as we are building a hospital for the generations ahead,” she said.
“We are willing to listen to their concerns but it’s sad that they have gone to lawyers and the media before coming to RMS to express their concerns,” she said.
