FOUR childcare nurseries providing 211 day-care places are planned for disadvantaged areas of Darlington.

The Neighbourhood Nurseries for children aged up to four are set to be in the Eastbourne, Northgate, Park East and the Morton Palms areas. They should be open by March 2004.

Twenty-one places in existing nurseries at Cockerton West and in the town centre will also be offered to children from poorer areas in the next few months.

The new nurseries have been approved by the Darlington Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership. They will be built by a partnership between the borough council, voluntary groups and the private sector.

The new nurseries cannot be built straight away for a number of reasons. Narrow streets in some areas of the town centre make it difficult for extra parking and there is also limited space for new buildings or conversions. Many parts of Northgate are also protected or listed which means it takes longer for planning permission to be granted for any new work.

Staff for the new nurseries will come from a variety of sources but there will be an emphasis on trying to recruit parents from the disadvantaged wards where they will be based.

The parents, many of whom are unemployed, will be encouraged to return to work at the nurseries.

Director of education Geoff Pennington said: "Parents in the disadvantaged wards will be targeted with a view to recruiting them into the childcare workforce, ensuring that they are aware of the childcare places available to them once they return to work and the funding streams which can assist with payment of these places."

Plans for the new nurseries will be discussed at the council's lifelong learning scrutiny committee later this month.