‘Don’t close places that are a lifeline for our children’

These are the immediate consequences of what amounts to a 15 per cent cut in funding to children’s centres in Leamington, Whitnash and Warwick, say centre users.

The cash-strapped county council says it had no option but to make a 7.9 per cent budget cut this year - the equivalent of 15 per cent if rising costs and the new requirements for staff pension schemes are taken into account.

But it is next year’s predicted 40 per cent cut - as we revealed last week - that has spread alarm at Lillington Children’s Centre where mums like Sarah Compton, aged 28, said: “I’ve received so much support from this place - any issues my partner and I have had with the children we’ve been able to flag up and get pointed in the right direction. We’ve already lost two play sessions here - what’s next if there’s no money for next year?”

At the Whitnash centre Jessica Murphy said: “My daughter Ciara didn’t speak until the age of two.

“I brought her here and it was a huge relief - she’s now four and ready to start school. But I’ve gone on to volunteer as a speech and language helper because I found out nearly 50 per cent of children start school with some sort of language impairment - these things need to be picked up early.”

Sarah Callaghan, head of learning and achievement at the county council, said however the problem is looked at, the reality is significant savings need to be made to the funding given to the six children’s centres, run by Action for Children.

She said: “Over the coming months we will be working with managers to identify local needs and inform a public consultation which we hope to launch in late summer.”