The local authority has replaced its existing childcare with private sector provision and is advertising for private nurseries to provide childcare to accompany five new children's centres in the city.
Councils must carry out a sufficiency assessment of local childcare services and plug any gaps using the private and voluntary sector. But Potteries Alliance party councillor Peter Kent-Baguley said: "They just want to go for privatisation."
He said private providers were unlikely to try to reach the most deprived families in the area.
Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, said: "Existing private and voluntary provision is often best placed to reach families that need these services the most, as day nurseries are rooted in the local community, understanding its needs."
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