Disabled girl in nursery dispute

6.10.30pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 30th Mar 2007

A woman has withdrawn her disabled three-year-old daughter from a council nursery in Leicestershire because she wants a place nearer home. Naomi Spencer wants her daughter Chloe to go to Oakham in Rutland, only eight miles from their Melton Mowbray house. But council officers insist Chloe, who has cerebral palsy, should go to their specialist nursery 20 miles away.

"I'm very angry," said Mrs Spencer. "Chloe has rights too. At the end of the day it's what's best for Chloe."

The council said its Menphys nursery at Wigston was under an hour's travelling time. "I've done that run. It's over an hour and it's not fair on Chloe. But (the council) are not budging," Mrs Spencer added.

In a statement the county council said it was "disappointed" that arrangements for Chloe to start at the Menphys nursery had run into difficulties. "Out-of-county places are offered when in exceptional cases a child's needs cannot be met in the county or in instances when the child lives on the periphery of the county. These are often very costly placements and are used in only the most exceptional circumstances."