Eildon Road Childcare and Kindergarten has written to Council questioning the management of their relocation to a temporary site at the North St Kilda Centre in Argyle Street.
Previously scheduled to happen from the start of the 2026 year, the relocation was postponed for at least a month at the end of 2025.
But last week ERCK told Council that the Centre is operating in a state of prolonged limbo that is placing extreme pressure on the staffing team and leadership.
‘The ongoing uncertainty, repeated compliance failures, and lack of clear accountability are creating serious mental, operational, and financial strain on the organisation, they said in a strongly worded letter to Council.
Process failures undermine confidence
ERCK has been alarmed by a series of delays within Council to get the necessary paperwork to get State approval to operate at the new site.
‘This has significantly eroded ERCK’s confidence in the City of Port Phillip’s ability to manage and oversee compliance matters appropriately across its services,’ they wrote.
ERCK is the first several childcare centre upgrades promised in 2022.
Eek as ERCK fails to move as planned
20 December 2025
Parents and staff at the Eildon Road Childcare & Kindergarten (ERCK) have been forced to delay relocation to their temporary facility because an all-important license to operate could not be obtained.
ERCK is one of six children centres being upgraded by council thanks to a combined $30M plus project budget (Council $18m + State $12.6m).
The upgrades were promised in 2022 by Council after a concerted campaign by supporters of community run childcare to halt the proposed sell off of the facilities.
Since then, Council has developed a four-year Children’s Centres Improvement Plan to progressively relocate the centres into temporary facilities at the Council’s North St Kilda Centre in Argyle Street.
Works are expected to run until 2030, with the first construction commencing early 2026. ERCK will relocate to the North St Kilda site during its redevelopment; staged starts are planned for each centre (2026–2029).
Many red flags waved
TWiSK has been contacted by parents from the centres over the past few months raising concerns about the process. They reported having numerous meetings with the CEO and senior officers but remained concerned about progress.
ERCK was scheduled to move over the January break and re-open in their temporary rooms at St Kilda North for Term 1. But on Thursday, their last operational day for 2025, they still had no licence to operate in the temporary facility. With out the licence, the facility cannot operate at the temporary site.
Parents liaising with Council said ERCK had no choice but to call a halt to the relocation. But they were adamant that the licence was waiting on information from council to be completed and granted.
Requesting anonymity, a parent familiar with the project offered this comment to make it clear that several Councillors had been advocating for progress:
“Despite numerous instances of the parents’ concerns being escalated by Councillors Crawford, Buckingham and Cunsolo, the systemic problem of an unmotivated machine failed to move forward at any pace.”
TWiSK understands that the relocation is now possible in February 2026 or beyond. In the meantime, they can continue operate at their current site.
But a swag of parents, staff and children face a festive break with more questions than answers.
