Council reviews children’s centres

A nine-week public consultation has been held and new proposals are due to be considered by cabinet members next week.

All 32 centres will remain open, as originally promised, but the concept of “lead” and “associate” centres offering different services has been dropped following criticism.

Council leader Mehboob Khan said money would still have to be saved.

“We can make the saving by creating groups of children’s centres, cutting management and administration costs and delivering services which best meet the needs of each local community.”

He recently meet Huddersfield mother Gemma Wilson, who is chairman of the Save Our Sure Start group.

Councillor Peter O’Neill, cabinet member for children and families, said parents, carers and families were being encouraged to take a more active role in shaping the way children’s centres are run.

“We always said that the feedback we received from local people would have an influence on the next set of proposals.”