A new £3.4m family-focused community building has been proposed for Barrhead in East Renfrewshire.

The local authority has agreed to consult with locals regarding the development, and if it is approved, it will fund, design and build the new centre.

It is intended that the Early Years family centre and community hub will be built on the site of the former Auchenback Primary School and will bring together different family focused services, enabling the council and its partners to work with the community in an innovative way to ensure that children and their families are supported to have the best possible start in life.

The council's commitment to a family centre in Auchenback follows its 'early years pledge' to reshape how the authority work with communities, how services work together and how budgets are aligned to support a shift towards prevention and early intervention.

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A key part of the early years work includes engaging with communities to establish their priorities and ensure their needs influence how the council delivers services. As a result, no no work will start on the new centre until the council has worked closely with the local community to learn their opinions and views and find out how we can best meet their needs.

It will be supported by an Early Years Change Fund which aims to put in place early interventions to reduce the need for councils to react to crisis.

Councillor Lafferty, Convener for Social Work and Health said: "I welcome the council's commitment to focusing on early years and the proposal for a new family centre and 'early years hub' for Auchenback. It backs the Scottish Government's agenda and shift towards taking early action to reduce inequalities and improve outcomes by preventing rather than dealing with consequences.

"By creating opportunities to offer more support during the early years we can have a lasting impact on outcomes for our children."

Almost one-fifth (19.6%), of the East Renfrewshire population are aged 0-5, higher than the Scottish average of 17.4%.

The pre-five learning and care will be delivered by education, while the early years work will be delivered by East Renfrewshire CHCP. This is a partnership between East Renfrewshire Council and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGG&C) and brings together local community and primary care health services from NHSGG&C and social work services from East Renfrewshire Council.

(JP/MH)