Government is searching for accommodation for two pre-schools in Smith?s and Somerset parishes as their leases have ended.

St. Mark?s Pre-school and Somerset Pre-school are currently being leased by private companies to Works and Engineering but the leases are about to end.

Smith?s parish resident and United Bermuda Party politician Trevor Moniz raised concern over the move and the impact on the parish if it lost a Government run pre-school.

?I was very instrumental in setting up the Smith?s Parish pre-school and I was disturbed to hear that it wasn?t going to be there anymore,? Mr. Moniz said.

?It will be hard for them to find somewhere to go or another arrangement and there are no other Government preschools in Smith?s,? he added.

A Government spokesperson said all efforts are being made to find properties for the pre-schools in their respective parishes.

St. Mark?s Church has responsibility for the church hall, which currently houses the Smith?s pre-school, and that responsibility rests in the hands of the church wardens.

?Our prime responsibility is care of the church property and we?ve just been through a difficult time that is, thankfully, behind us,? said church warden Colin Campbell.

The wardens were contacted to review the lease that was about to end.

?We were spoken to by a member of the public who wanted to rent out property for a pre-school. The present circumstances we had were not meeting the large commitments and we weren?t being satisfied.

?We negotiated with Works and Engineering but we were advised that it wasn?t going to happen.

?The vestry worked hard to make sure that the wardens had crossed their i?s and dotted their t?s in the correspondence with Works and Engineering and everyone was on top of their game,? he said.

Hurricane damage to the church and two years of lost revenue forced the church to take the privately owned pre-schools offer.

?The values that Works and Engineering could offer after revising the agreement paled in comparison to the independent entity,? Mr.Campbell said.

He added that the church deeply regretted that the current tenant would have to leave but he added that the wardens had looked at the fact that children fulfil only a year at the school before primary school.

?The church wishes the pre-school the best of luck and anything we can do to help we will,? he added.

Somerset Pre-school must move due to the school?s increasing size. It is currently working out of the Somerset Brigade Band Hall.

Both schools hope to have new homes before September.