BURY will receive more than £1.6 million to create 1,071 new nursery places to give young children in disadvantaged areas the flying start they deserve.

The cash for the borough is included in a total funding package for the North West of £60 million to create around 40,200 nursery places in the region.

The allocation, announced by Education and Employment Minister Margaret Hodge, is a three strand national childcare initiative to help disadvantaged areas.

The aim is to create new childcare places in neighbourhood nursery centres funded by the Government and, following consultation, extra funding via the New Opportunity Fund to support the initiative. Cash from the New Opportunities Fund has also been earmarked to help start up neighbourhood out-of-school-hours childplace places.

The North West will also benefit from thousands of new child minder places in disadvantaged areas funded through money already allocated through the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership.

Bury's cut of the cash cake for the Neighbourhood Nurseries Initiative is £800,000, with the target of creating 180 such nursery places throughout the borough.

Lottery Funding of £320,000, combined with £500,000 secured from the Out of School Childcare Funding Lottery, will bring Bury a total of 891 out-of-school childcare places under the Government's targets.

Detailing the region's funding, Mrs Hodge said: "Too many families have no access to quality childcare because they live in disadvantaged areas, including rural areas. This has to end.

"Our aim is that, by March 2004, every lone parent entering employment in disadvantaged areas will have access to a childcare place."