THE decision to close almost two-thirds of the county’s children’s centres was given the go ahead today (Wednesday, March 18) despite objections from hundreds of people.

Members of Durham County Council’s cabinet unanimously agreed to shut down 28 specialist centres in a bid to save a further £1m.

Rachael Shimmin, corporate director of children and adults services, said the move was part of a wider approach to transform children’s centres.

“We need to reconfigure our services for families who most need them and are unlikely to access children’s centres,” she said.

“This will save the council around £1m whilst creating a more flexible and local approach to our services.”

It has been decided that 15 out of 43 centres will remain open in what the council has called ‘cluster sites’.

One facility will be retained in Consett, Stanley, Chester-le-Street, Deerness Valley, Durham, Easington, Seaham, Peterlee East, Peterlee Central, Peterlee West, Ferryhill, Spennymoor, Newton Aycliffe, Bishop Auckland and the Durham Dales.

The 28 soon to be closed centres will be transferred to other providers such as charities and community groups, but will remain an asset of the council.

Councillor Lucy Hovvels said: “It’s about improving services and it’s important that the community understands that this is a transformation, the service is not disappearing.

“We should not be frightened to transform our services and do things differently if we are going to get a better outcome.”

Cllr Alan Napier, deputy leader of the council, said the services were due to be reviewed in the near future and that the changes are part of a £137m saving made by the council by the end of the month.

The authority must save a total of £250m from its spending by 2019, a cut imposed by the Government.

The final decision today follows a three month public consultation period that took place in summer last year.

An analysis of the responses shows 48 per cent of more than 1,800 people who responded to the questionnaire argue the closure of the centres would have a negative impact.

Cllr Ossie Johnson said the authority will continue to deliver expert services and improve outcomes for County Durham children.