THE Waterloo Road Community Pre-School in Wellington is to receive a £250 grant towards buying IT equipment for children to use – although councillors believe they should be using soft-play equipment at that young age.

The pre-school, which operates on a not-for-profit basis and is based at Wellington Methodist Church, provides services to children aged between two and four years.

It had applied to Wellington Town Council for a grant of £969.90 for the purchase of IT devices which would be used to record children’s progress and setting-up a web-portal system for parents to view results.

Town clerk Kathryn Hemensley told members of the council’s finance committee last week that the pre-school intends to buy two laptops and four tablets which the children would also be able to use.

Cllr Andrew Govier said: “I would like to support this. The pre-school provides a valuable introduction to education for young children and it is well-respected with the community.”

But not everyone was convinced about the need for it to apply for such a grant.

Cllr Mark Lithgow told councillors he had ‘looked carefully at the pre-school accounts’ and that it had a healthy bank balance.

He intimated that those who can afford to pay for projects without coming to the town council for grants should do so.

Cllr Marcus Barr added: “I do feel the same as Cllr Lithgow and I don’t think children at that age should be using computer tablets.”

The Mayor, Cllr Gary James, said: “They should be using soft-play equipment rather than using iPads and computers. Young children should be talking to each other and playing rather than being on laptops.”

Cllr Vivienne Stock-Williams suggested that they award a token grant of £250 as opposed to the full amount of £969 because the pre-school was a ‘valuable facility’.

The finance committee’s recommendation to award a grant for £250 was later verified by the full council.