CHILDREN'S centre cuts in Worcestershire are going ahead - despite a last-ditch attempt from campaigners to get it ditched today.

Worcestershire County Council has vowed to press on and finalise a controversial project to slash £3 million from centre spending, with 18 sites facing significant service reductions.

During a tense County Hall debate today a key scrutiny committee decided to allow the Conservative leadership to crack on with the changes after months of debate, despite vociferous disagreement between Tory and Labour politicians.

During the debate protestors who turned up to speak insisted children's lives were at risk, with angry mums calling it "penny pinching".

But Councillor Marc Bayliss, the cabinet member for children and families, said he would not be doing it unless he was satisfied the remaining funds would be targeted at those most in need.

He also said the service would always be “under review”, saying the centres have continuously evolved over the years.

At times the debate turned bitter, with critical councillors calling it "a sham consultation" and a "dodgy decision".

Parent Lisa-Marie Vaughan, of St John's, read out a note on behalf of the 4,000-strong Worcestershire Mums Network saying the cuts would spark "hardship, injury or potential death".

She said too many children could "fall through the cracks", adding: "The outcome is not worth the financial penny pinching from this council."

Another mum, 33-year-old Nicki Perrins, cited her own personal anguish, saying the service has helped her own daughter who is four and has Sensory Processing Disorder.

"The support we have got turned our lives around," she said.

Eight people spoke in total, including health visitor Tracey Biggs, a Labour city councillor, who said it was "very interesting we are having this debate on the 50th anniversary of the Aberfan disaster".

Julie Wills, headteacher at Upton Primary, also spoke to say people were being "too negative" and said her school would take over their local centre and make it better.

Cllr Peter McDonald, Labour group leader, said: "I believe this is based on false evidence, it's driven by finances and not people.

"The principle of transparency and good decision making has gone out the window."

Cllr Pat Agar called it "a dodgy decision" before several other politicians lined up to criticise the move including Cllr Chris Bloore, who heavily slated the consultation efforts.

But Cllr Bayliss said: "The idea the opposition has been excluded is frankly, nonsense.

"Our targeted services will remain and will still be there in the future, targeted at those most in need.

"Services will remain but be focused on targeted areas of our communities."

During a long defence of the changes he also cited Oxfordshire, where 44 children's centres are going down to just eight after a Judicial Review.

He added: "We are not closing any, and we will identify children most in need in a variety of ways, it does include GPs, health visitors and what we call our 'front door' (social services)."

He said it was "incumbent on all of us to work together" to get the best from the cash remaining, before Cllr John Smith, cabinet member for health and wellbeing, pointed to the inequality gap getting bigger in recent years despite the service being protected.

"That's one of the reasons we want to get among this and make some changes," he added.

A £6.4 million yearly fund for 32 children's centres will now reduce to £3 million, with 18 sites set to undergo significant service reductions.

No centres will close, but they will be taken over by either schools or childcare organisations under lease deals.

Some services like stay and play classes for toddlers will remain universal despite the cuts, and a £35,000 'transition fund' has been created to mitigate some of the impact as a result of the consultation.

The children and young people overview and scrutiny panel voted to allow the decision to stand - but it will get regular oversight of the changes as they develop and can call the topic back in for debate.

Today's debate, which raged for more than two hours, was the culmination of months of debate and 1,200 people signing a petition to try and get it scrapped.