A 14-place nursery, a repurposed municipal building and a well-designed public-private partnership: in Ouffet, the municipality chose a modern solution to meet families' needs while keeping its finances under control.
In Ouffet, the municipality made a clear choice: to act differently in order to meet families' needs. Rather than waiting for a ready-made solution to increase the number of nursery places, it decided to design its own model, converting a municipal building into a 14-place nursery through a public-private partnership.
Like many rural municipalities, Ouffet faces two well-known obstacles:
-too few care places for very young children;
-an unsustainable, recurring cost when it comes to creating and running a public nursery.
The answer could not be conventional. The municipality therefore chose a modern solution: making a municipal building available, free of rent, in order to fully control its financial share while allowing a private operator to develop a viable project. A concrete way to remove budgetary obstacles without giving up ambition.
The municipal building concerned will be brought up to standard: replacement of window frames, electrical inspection, heating repairs, installation of new flooring and technical approvals from ONE and the fire service.
This work is essential to provide children with a safe, high-quality setting. An investment of around €150,000 will then make it possible to fully adapt the premises to house the future nursery, which is expected to open by late 2026. The municipality will not handle day-to-day management. Specifications will be voted on by the municipal council, setting out the terms of this public-private partnership and enabling the selection of an operator responsible for the final interior fit-out and the running of the care facility.
This arrangement creates a win-win balance: the municipality makes the most of an existing building while keeping its financial commitments under control, the private operator benefits from a stable, rent-free environment to develop its activity, and families see new care places become a reality.
A deliberately modern approach, showing that the solution for municipalities today lies in innovation, the invention of new concepts and smart partnerships. In Ouffet, this modernity translates into a concrete response to the needs of parents and young children.
More information: Caroline Cassart - 0486/07.75.26.