The centre, located between Merthyr's upper and lower valleys, is"almost a warehouse" according to team leader and manager Ann James,through which a cluster of statutory, voluntary and private servicesoperate.
"The Welsh Assembly Government has stipulated components that we have toinclude but other than that it has allowed local authorities to developcentres to meet local needs," says James, who also heads up theBorough's early years, basic skills and familiy support services.
"For us, that's meant the extra flexibility to pull together all theservices essential for an integrated children's centre while looking atgaps in services and where we can plug them using existingproviders."
Previously there was little pre-school provision in the borough - wherenine out of 11 wards are part of the Communities First regenerationprogramme - and it had the lowest number of childminders in Wales.
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