PRIVATISATION will only be a last resort in a controversial shake-up of children’s services across Bury, according to council leaders.

In a bid to save £820,000, Bury Council has decided to axe 11 full-time staff from its children’s services depart-ment, with seven children’s centres being closed and converted into nurseries for two-year-olds.

Under the proposals — under government guidelines to offer 15 hours of nursery care for 38 weeks a year to the 40 per cent of most deprived two-year-olds in the borough — the provision would not be directly run by the council, and services would be tendered to providers such as schools.

The plans, which have sparked the formation of a protest group named Save Bury Children’s Centres, are out to a 12-week public consultation, with a final decision expected in December.

Cllr Iain Gartside, Bury’s Conservative leader, has accused the council of trying to privatise services aimed at vulnerable people.

However, at last week’s full council meeting, leader of the Labour council Cllr Mike Connolly accused Cllr Gartside of “scare-mongering”, and said the council would “never put services at risk for profitability”.

He said: “Councils are having to make cuts which are deep, dire and sometimes disastrous, cuts to frontline services due to the coalition government’s war on the public sector.”

Cllr Gartside said the council should be prioritising savings in back-office areas, rather than frontline staff.

The seven sites set to be converted, six of which are based in primary schools, are located in Ramsbottom; Daisyfield and Moorside, in Bury; High Meadow and Stepping Stones, in Radcliffe; Butterstile in Prestwich; and Toodle Hill in Whitefield.

Bury has 14 children’s centres, but under the proposals, there would be five children’s centre hubs and one “spoke” facility, to deliver targeted services to the most vulnerable families.

The five hubs would be based in Woodbank with Elton, Bury; Little Oaks Children’s Centre, Bury; Coronation Road, Radcliffe; Besses, Whitefield; Sedgley, covering Toodle Hill, Butterstile; the “spoke” centre would be in Redvales, under Little Oaks’ management.

Cllr Connolly added: “The council is not seeking to completely close facilities, but to create new opportunities.”

A motion by Conservative members, calling on the council to examine if further savings could be made through shared services between councils and back-office savings, was defeated by Labour.