At a meeting on June 16, the council announced it would allocate funding towards an investigation looking at the provision of sustainable childcare options in Edenhope.

West Wimmera mayor Bruce Meyer later confirmed the amount would total $20,000 in a morning interview on ABC Wimmera on Thursday.

A second report from council officers will be made to ensure Edenhope has adequate childcare options for future years.

Council also resolved to include the provision of childcare services in the council plan.

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West Wimmera Shire Corporate and Community Services director Vin Mckay outlined the council's decision.

"The council has resolved to set aside a sum of money for investigation and strategy development to ensure the provision of sustainable child care services in the shire," he said.

"More than that, council offices have already prepared a report for consideration at the next council forum."

Mr Mckay also announced the shire would halt the sale of the town's senior citizens centre, indicating its possible future use as a child care facility.

The decision comes after a group of parents in Edenhope spearheaded a submission to include funding for a childcare feasibility study in the shire's 2021-22 budget.

Edenhope mother, Danielle Irving, is part of the group and said she was happy to hear the council was including the funding.

"We are all very excited to hear that there has been a public commitment to bringing childcare services to the community and putting money towards that," she said.

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"There is a clear path forward now. It is great to see our representatives are so cognisant of what is required.

"Now they have made this commitment to the community - now the hard work starts. To have council on board is really positive."

However, criticism was levelled at the shire for the lack of transparency in the decision process.

Ms Irving said the budget submission council meeting was kept confidential.

The council's ultimate decision was only revealed to the parents through a public question posed at the June 16 meeting.

"It has been a really frustrating week. There was a public submission made for the budget that parents put a lot of work into, sharing their personal stories. As did businesses and employers," she said.

"To then not hear about councillors on their thoughts on it, the debates on it and where they were going to take this information was really frustrating.

"But that is behind us now. It was great that we could get answers from questioning councillors in yesterday's meeting."

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