THE future of a children's nursery is in doubt after St Helens Council launched a consultation.

The Fourways Day Nursery on Burnage Avenue, Clock Face is being subjected to a six-week review before cabinet makes a decision.

In a delegated executive decision, the authority said the reason for the consultation was that current provision "is not financially viable" adding that options to explore alternative management and service arrangements "have been unsuccessful".

Parents, staff, trade union representatives and other interested stakeholders will be involved in the process.

In October 2015, approval was given to explore alternative management and service delivery arrangements for the nursery which commenced the following month.

Following this, 17 organisations expressed an interest and six completed and returned tender documents by the April 2016 deadline with two organisations shortlisted for presentation.

However, one was found not to have sufficient capability and was excluded and the other, which was deemed suitable, dropped due to financial reasons and internal management issues.

The council added that in June last year a primary school submitted a tentative proposal to take over the nursery but after it was established that financial guarantees would be required from the council, the option did not progress further.

The authority forecasts that Fourways Day Nursery will operate at a deficit of approximately £117,000 in 2017/18 and financial projections indicate that it is "likely to be an ongoing pressure".