Around 50 mothers made the journey to London on Monday in a bid to persuade the Government to reinstate the ring-fence around Sure Start funding. Hampshire County Council was forced to extend a consultation on its proposals to reorganise its children's centres from mid-March until last Friday, after criticism from residents on how it handled the consultation process (News, 24 March).
The council wants to cut the number of 'individually managed' children's centres from 81 to 53 and merge or privatise the others.
Councillor Roy Perry, Hampshire's executive lead member for children's centres, was reported by local newspapers as saying that the 22,000 signature petition represented 'a tiny percentage of the population', and that the parents' campaign was misrepresenting the proposals.
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