Following a visit to his surgery by Sue Wigg, the Manager of the Windmills Opportunity Playgroup in Burgess Hill, Nicholas Soames has intervened on their behalf.

Nicholas Soames commented; “The Windmills Opportunity Playgroup is a long-standing and an extraordinarily valuable and important asset to our community and I am deeply worried that it may have to close because of a lack of resources.”

“The Playgroup has provided outstanding services for 25 years by way of support for families, children and adults.

“It satisfies all the Government’s requirements and yet even though the majority of children referred to them come from local paediatricians, they receive no money from the Department of Health at all. West Sussex County Council are as generous as they can be to them but they themselves are very short of money.”

Mr Soames said; “I have therefore written to the Chief Executives of the NHS West Sussex (formerly the West Sussex PCT); the NHS South East Coast Strategic Health Authority and the South Downs Health NHS Trust, to urge upon them that in their enormous budgets they must find space to assist such a valuable and remarkable organisation.”

“This is an exceptional Group and I shall do everything that I can to ensure that the services that they provide are not lost to local people, some of whom badly need them.”