WORCESTERSHIRE County Council is calling on members of the public to take part in a meeting concerning the future of Children’s Centres in the county.

The meeting of the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Panel, which is taking place from 10am on Friday, July 15 at County Hall, will discuss proposals for 18 Children’s Centres including three in Bromsgrove.

A consultation, which went out on the county council’s website earlier this year, called for suggested alternative uses of the Children’s Centre buildings.

The consultation said: “We recognise that these buildings are important community assets and want to make sure they are used to their full potential. We are not proposing to close any buildings, instead we believe that the proposals that we are consulting on will enable them to be used better. However, before a final decision is made we need to understand the impact, both good and bad, on local communities.”

The county council has now produced a list of proposed future uses of each Children’s Centre, which names the services which will no longer be delivered if proposals go ahead.

The current proposals would mean that Conkers at Hagley Primary School and Tulip Trees at Catshill First School would both stop running activity sessions, and family and adult learning, while Conkers would stop parenting support entirely, but Tulip Tress would limit its parenting support. Tulip Trees would also stop running health services including health visitor clinics and antenatal clinics.

As additional services, Conkers would start running extended childcare provision with after school care and a potential Holiday Club, while Tulip Trees would potentially offer a base for social care, parenting courses, a base for the school nurse, and somewhere to relocate the before and after school clubs.

The third children’s centre affected, Sunny Fields, at Charford First School, would stand to lose its activity sessions, some family and adult learning and some parenting support, but could gain an extension of the before and after school care, family learning for parents with crèche provision, and better accommodation for a current support group for parents with children with additional needs.

Councillor Lynne Duffy, chairman of the children and families overview and scrutiny panel, said: "It's important that the consultation process is as thorough as it can be so I would invite members of the public to attend this meeting and share their views with us. The scrutiny board's function is to gain a full understanding of the views of as many service users on the current proposals."

Anyone wishing to participate in the meeting should notify the head of legal and democratic services in writing or by email to scrutiny@worcestershire.gov.uk indicating the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9am on Thursday, July 14.