Dursley residents have launched a campaign to save Treetops Nursery.

The nursery faces closure next month after Gloucestershire County Council announced it would stop paying the building’s utility fees.

A letter to parents and carers said: “This makes our financial position much worse. We do not have enough money to support the losses the nursery is making.”

Concerned residents in the town have called on the county council to continue to pay the nursery’s bills, allowing it to remain open.

Town councillor Danae Saviddou, whose daughter has just ‘graduated’ from Treetops and started primary school, said: “Treetops is a wonderful nursery, with skilled and caring staff providing an important service for parents and children in Dursley. It’s also the only childcare provider in town that offers care out of school hours.

“The closure will affect women primarily as all the staff are female and it'll mean mums will find it harder to get back to work unless they can find alternative childcare. There are nurseries in Cam, but they’re already over-subscribed.”

Fellow councillor Wendy Thomas said: “It’s profoundly disappointing to see Gloucestershire County Council withdraw funding for this much-needed organisation.

“At a time of financial uncertainty the council should be reassuring parents and families, not abandoning them. This decision has caused a lot of stress among people in Dursley, who suddenly find themselves without any childcare.”

People are being encouraged to write to Dursley’s Conservative county councillor, Loraine Patrick, Stroud’s Conservative MP Siobhan Baillie and Rachel Howie at the Diocese of Gloucester asking them to save the Nursery.

The Facebook page is facebook.com/Save-Treetops-Nursery-112564143918366