Wheatley Hill Best Start Family Hub closed after rats found

Best Start Family Hub in Wheatley Hill shut its doors after pest control and health and safety teams inspected the building and advised it should close as a precaution.

The hub, which hosts a range of services including baby groups, toddler sessions and midwife appointments, has been pictured with its shutters down after the rodents were found.

The council-run service said: “Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have had to temporarily close Best Start Family Hub Wheatley Hill.

Pest control was called to the site. (Image: ANDY FUTERS)

“We asked our pest control and health and safety teams to visit the hub and, after they inspected the property, took the decision to close on their advice.

“This is a purely precautionary measure in the interests of the children and families that use our site.

“All bookings, groups and programmes at the site are cancelled and we will update hub users as soon as we can on reopening.

“In the meantime, users of our Wheatley Hill site are very welcome at our family hubs at Peterlee and Easington which provide similar services.

“We are working to get the site open again as quickly as possible. We are hoping this will be later this month, but we will only reopen when we have been advised it is appropriate to do so.”

Family hubs are part of a national programme backed by the Department for Education, designed to provide support for families from pregnancy through to early childhood.

Services typically include health visits, parenting support and early years activities, often delivered in partnership with councils and the NHS.

A Durham County Council spokesperson confirmed the decision to close was taken after a pest control visit.

“This is a purely precautionary measure in the interests of the children and families that use our site,” they said.