Interview: Jo Williams, Hainault Forest Comm Assoc NeighbourhoodNursery - A nursery under threat

For the last three years, funding from the initiative has helpedtransform London's Hainault Forest Community Association NeighbourhoodNursery, which she manages.

The nursery has doubled in size to 70 places, hired more staff andcarried out refurbishment work.

The funding had also become vital in meeting the annual running costs ofthe now larger operation. A sustainability element of the funding, whichwas worth around 12,000 a year, helped to ensure fees were keptlow and a hardship fund was available to help the most disadvantagedparents.

But the initiative's funding dried up late last year and Williams fearsunless the 12,000 is found from elsewhere, the nursery's futureis uncertain.

She says: "Most of the money was spent in the early days onrefurbishment, but we had come to rely on this 12,000 a year. Atthe moment if we fill all our places all year round then we can justabout survive, but if a dozen or so children leave then it starts to getworse and it will have a devastating effect on the nursery."