A RAY of hope is left for Bucks children’s centres, as the council agrees to review the decision.

A group of councillors for Bucks County Council have ‘called in’ the decision following the vote on Monday, January 8. This review means the closure of the centres is delayed while the council reviews the proposal again.

Cllr Julia Wassell, who initiated the call-in process, said she thought the consultation was flawed adding: “I strongly believe that not all the relevant matters were taken into account in reaching the decision as a number of issues have since come to light.”

In the call-in document, Cllr Wassell argued that the consultation process was inadequate and had ‘confused’ people, that safeguarding concerns had not be adequately addressed, and the local impact of the cuts had not been fully considered, such as how it would affect schools that use the facilities.

The call-in request was supported by three other councillors: Cllr Chaudhary Ditta, Cllr Martin Farrow, and Cllr Niknam Hussain.

Alka Dass, of Save Buckinghamshire’s Children’s Centres campaign, said: “We are pleased that councillors are supporting the save the centres campaign and calling in the decision, as we all need to stand united irrelevant of what political party councillors belong to.”

“Councillors are representing the views of those campaigning and we are with them on this. “We are also working away in the background and the campaign is still going strong.”

Speaking to the Observer, Cllr Wassell said: “My end goal is to start the consultation all over again, because it was flawed. When a proper transparent and fair document explaining the changes is submitted, I am sure the response to the consultation will be so overwhelming that the children’s centres will be saved.”