ANGRY parents say a £1million Kent children's centre is excluding the people it was built for.

They say the centre at Canterbury, home to the Government's Sure Start programme, is dominated by an expensive nursery run by a private firm while families living near by are unable to afford it.

Opened at Kingsmead in September last year, the Riverside Centre nursery was handed over to Busy Bees.

Councillors and parents are united in condemning its fees as "extortionate". They are £32 a day for toddlers and £36 a day for babies.

Amanda Roche, of Spring Lane, sat on a Sure Start parents' board to shape the centre, and said she feels "ashamed and deceived".

Cllr Jo Calvert-Mindell said: "We have let our most needy families down."

County councillor Martin Vye has raised the question of nursery provision in the area at a county council meeting.

He said: "This is a pressing issue for me."

* See this week's Kentish Gazette for the full story and comment.