SOUTH Craven families who have children with complex disabilities could see an improvement in the short-break service.

North Yorkshire County Council is planning to develop a more flexible service to give families a break from looking after the youngsters.

The councillors were this week due to decide on the plan to enhance three high-quality children’s resource centre hubs across the county.

The hubs will provide a range of services including day and overnight care, support in the community, holiday programmes and services available to assist carers in the evenings and weekends.

Short break overnight provision for Harrogate and Skipton will be concentrated in the Nidderdale Children’s Resource Centre which has been judged outstanding by Ofsted and which will be extended and its programmes developed to cater for more children.

This will be complemented by an outreach support service in Skipton to provide a more flexible resource for community support for families in Craven.

The proposals are designed to create a more efficient and vibrant service and a saving of over £450,000 by enabling the closure of the Ghyll Children’s Resource Centre in Skipton and the Beck satellite provision in Starbeck which have experienced a reduction in demand in recent years.

The Ghyll is currently used by no more than seven families – threatening its financial viability and the quality of experience for children and young people.

Cllr Janet Sanderson, North Yorkshire’s executive member for children’s services, said: “We can extend the outstanding short break provision in Nidderdale with its excellent holiday programmes and activities – transporting children from Craven door-to-door if needed - and we can complement this with community provision in Skipton.”