Throughout 2024, the viability of Devonshire Childcare Centre was called into question.
Operated and owned by Willoughby City Council, Devonshire remains the only long day care centre in the LGA run by the local government. Established over 20 years ago, the centre was created to meet the needs of families unable to find meaningful daycare options.
However, Devonshire has been operating at a loss for the past few years, and in March 2024, Willoughby City Council opened submissions from interested providers to lease the site.
After an arduous application process, Heritage House Childcare, which operates centres in Auburn, Baulkham Hills, Hornsby, Cherrybrook, Castle Hill, Pennant Hills, Turramurra, and Wahroonga, were granted approval on the proposed lease. The term of the lease was a period of 10 years.
In a surprising turn, Willoughby City Council reversed their decision in the December 2024 General Meeting, ceasing the lease approval and returning operations to Council staff.
During the meeting, a petition with over 600 signatures was acknowledged. The petition read:
‘The Devonshire Street Child Care loses Council approximately $10,000 per week… Please support the lease as it will continue to keep our rates low for all residents of the LGA.’
Xerxes Karai, Managing Director of Heritage House Childcare, expressed his disappointment with Council’s backtracking, highlighting the time and resources invested by the private business to complete their application.
‘We were assured that under the tendering guidelines for NSW local government, council must not invite or submit tenders without a firm intention and capacity to proceed with contract,’ said Mr Karai.
Councillor Anna Greco argued against the lease, wishing to not outsource operations of Devonshire. ‘Devonshire’s low ocupancy rate of 72% is likely to recover… This community land is designed for long childcare. Council management of Devonshire matters because it provides a unique, high-quality option.’
Councillor Robert Samuel defended the lease. ‘We don’t have enough libraries, we don’t have enough youth centres, we’ve got no money for sports facilities, no money for change rooms for women and girls… As for appropriate use of community land, there are 55 long daycare centres in Willoughby, do you know how many women’s shelters there are? There isn’t a single one in the whole of Willoughby.’
The motion for the General Manager to finalise the lease agreement was lost, with six voting in favour (Councillors Taylor, Campbell, Roussac, Royds, Samuel, and Wright), and seven against (Councillors Chuang, Dodds, Greco, McCullagh, Moratelli, Nelson, and Rozos).
As the outsourcing of Devonshire was a cost-saving measure included in Council’s Special Rate Variation (SRV) application to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART), Council is now reallocating $500,000 to cover the running costs of Devonshire.
Where, exactly, this money will materialise from to be used for Devonshire Childcare Centre is subject to further debate in upcoming meetings.
Willoughby City Council provided a response on the issue of Devonshire Childcare Centre to The Post:
At its Council meeting on 16 December a motion to grant the proposed lease for the management and operation of Devonshire Street Childcare Centre was lost. As a result Council is unable to implement the proposed lease agreement. Council will continue to manage the operation of the Devonshire Childcare Centre.
