The meeting was requested by six councillors, including five Liberal Democrats and one independent councillor, who want the council to reconsider the cuts and its proposals to merge or privatise a third of its children's centres, which will lead to 35 management staff and 30 support officers losing their jobs.
However, a motion they put forward, which called for the council to 'reverse its intention' of cutting £6m from the Sure Start budget, was rejected by the Conservative-led council, which criticised the councillors for not providing any alternative suggestions for where they would find the £6m.
Parents who attended the meeting pleaded with the council to reconsider and spoke of how their families had been helped by children's centres. Rebecca Frost, whose son Zach has been attending a children's centre for the last 18 months, said, 'My son is autistic and because of his condition he could be violent, so he was unable to socially interact with other children. We were alone and I was in despair, but the Sure Start centre officers have supported me as a mother and have helped Zach communicate with children his own age.'
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