CAMPAIGNERS have branded a decision that could lead to the closure of more than half of Oxfordshire's children's centres "unforgivable".

They protested outside Oxford's County Hall today over a shake-up of services that is set to see funding being pulled from 31 of 44 children's centres and two of seven early intervention hubs after March next year.

Only eight of the centres and hubs would remain fully-funded by Oxfordshire County Council and will offer limited open-access activities. A further two would be kept open up as "bases" and eight more as self-funding 'outreach centres', mainly offering day care.

Reacting to a decision by the local authority's cabinet today to go ahead with the plan, campaigner Charlie Payne said to councillors it was "unforgiveable".

Banbury mum-of-two Jill Huish added: "We want to make it clear the new service is not what Oxfordshire wanted and it is certainly not what it needs.

"The council knows this will be bad for families and yet it is still going ahead with it anyway."

It comes after the Conservative-run council agreed £6m of budget cuts to the service, due to reductions in funding from central government, but agreed to keep a further £2m that was due to be cut.

The council has proposed using the extra £2m to employ more social workers and it says this will help it continue to offer services from the 18 sites.

A one-off fund of £1m will also be used to give start-up cash to centres with workable business plans and the county's 43 libraries could offer so-called 'stay and play' sessions.

But parents behind the Save Oxfordshire's Children's Centres campaign say the cash should go directly towards the budgets of children's centres under threat of closure across the county, arguing that families in rural areas will be left isolated under the new system.

Ms Huish added: "You cannot make decisions about children's centres based on budget constraints.

"They should be based on surveys of what areas need, whether that is geographical or needs-based.

"The council should be doing more with the extra £2m – that money should have caused them to go back to the drawing board, because they have not even asked staff what they could do with their budgets yet."

At a meeting today, the council's cabinet approved a six-week consultation of the new children's centres proposals that would run in June and July.

Labour group leader Liz Brighouse said the proposal was "the best deal we can get".

She said: "Clearly it is not a good deal, because no one wants to close children's centres. But I think it does protect the most vulnerable and provides an outreach service.

"Going forward, we want to save as many jobs and services as possible. The money needs to be spent on areas where there is most need."

Melinda Tilley, county council cabinet member for children, education and families, said the proposals recognised "the role of universal services in helping solve families’ problems at an early stage".