TWO day nurseries are to share in a £500,000 windfall to provide extra childcare places.

Nightingales at Airedale Hospital and Handprints in Silsden are among five facilities across Bradford district which will benefit from the Department for Education (DfE) capital cash.

In total, 200 additional childcare spaces will be created through extensions and refurbishments.

Work on the projects, which have also attracted funding of about £165,000 from alternative sources, will start soon and should be complete by the autumn.

The DfE funding has been agreed as part of a programme to ensure there are sufficient childcare places for the new 30 hours funded offer beginning in September.

Under the initiative, eligible working parents of three and four-year-olds will be able to get an additional 15 hours of childcare.

This is on top of the 15 hours already available.

Councillor Imran Khan – Bradford Council's executive member for education, employment and skills – said making sure there were enough school, early education and childcare places for all children was a key priority of the Bradford District Education Covenant.

He added: "We are delighted that the district has received this funding boost to provide more childcare places for three and four-year-olds.

"The increase in capacity will mean we can help more young children benefit from early education, while helping their parents get into work."

Valerie Hogg – manager of Nightingales, the Airedale NHS Foundation Trust's day nursery – said: "If we hadn't have received this funding, we would not have been able to offer 30-hour places without it having a detrimental effect on the number of spaces available for younger children.

"We are delighted we'll now be able to extend our nursery and continue to offer high-quality care for all age groups.

"The extension will enable us to provide more places to our local community in addition to NHS staff."

Hannah Wiggin, owner and manager of Handprints, said the nursery was "really excited" about its expansion.

"We are investing a considerable amount ourselves as well as the capital funding to make sure the nursery is good quality," she added.

"The capital funding is really positive as it will enable the children in the area access their 30 hour place.”

For more details about the 30 hours childcare, visit childcarechoices.gov.uk or bradford.gov.uk/fis.