Haringey council says that it has no option but to make the cuts after reducing its children's centre and early years budget by £6.5m.
One of the centres that is under threat has been open for just three months. The Rokesley children's centre cost £1.1m to develop and began offering services from its purpose-built building in February. The Highgate children's centre, another setting facing the axe, has been open for just over one year, since February 2010. The other two settings set to have their funding withdrawn are the Northbank and Tower Gardens children's centres.
Parent Ruth Garde, who attends the Rokesley centre with her 17-month-old son, said, 'I will be devastated if the children's centre closes. They offer the best stay-and-play sessions I have ever attended. The facilities and the care are excellent. The fact that the centre only began offering services from its new building three months ago makes the council's plans seem insane. To leave a building like this unused would be absolutely criminal.'
Councillor Lorna Reith, cabinet member for children and young people, said, 'We're simply no longer receiving the funding from central government needed to maintain the children's centres in the same way. Our priority in deciding how the centres are run in the future has to be our most vulnerable children. Our proposals target services where there are the highest numbers of children who need our help most.'
The council plans to reorganise the remaining centres into four clusters, each with around four sites. Within each cluster there will be a variation in services available and opening times for each centre.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council is planning to cut children's centre funding by £2.25m after scrapping plans to close seven settings following a campaign by parents. The council has launched a consultation on what children's centres services are important to local people and which they would like to see continue. Local campaigners have now launched a second petition against the proposed cuts.
Northamptonshire County Council has intervened against plans to cut £1.1m from the budget of the renowned Pen Green children's centre. It has written to the Schools Forum advising it against the cuts and asking it to postpone the consultation period until July.