CHILDREN''S centres campaigners have received an apology after council bosses admitted mistakes were made over the handling of a 2,500-signature petition.

At a full council meeting in January, Prestwich mum-of-two Mrs Sian Crosby was denied a debate after she presented the petition which called on the council to retain all seven centres.

The previous month, when the petition was originally submitted by the Save Bury Children's Centre group, rules dictated that those with 2,500 signatures required debate by the council.

But later, they were told the laws had changed with the debate provision no longer applying automatically.

Following a complaint lodged by Mrs Crosby, who said the council's website had not been updated with the new rules, the matter was discussed at a recent meeting of the council's overview and scrutiny committee.

And at last week's full council meeting, during public questions, she sought to determine if the council would now acknowledge the decision to deny holding the debate was wrong.

Mrs Crosby asked: "In addition, what assurances can the council offer Bury residents that they are entitled to rely on the information displayed on the council's website which is, after all, the main means by which the council communicates with the people it serves?"

Council leader Cllr Mike Connolly said he was aware that her appeal had gone to the overview and scrutiny committee and that it was acknowledged that "mistakes were made," particularly in terms of uploading information about new procedures on the website.

He continued: "I am also aware that further recommendations were made in terms of the handling of petitions in future This included an assurance that petition organisers would be informed immediately of changes in procedure.

"I would like to acknowledge the excellent work that you and your fellow organisers put into the petition around children's centres and I fully understand why, after such a tremendous effort, you feel let down at the way your petition was handled at council. For this, I apologise and would assure you that lessons have been learnt."