High Wycombe mums have hailed the town’s children’s centres for providing them with much-needed support as they battled post-natal depression.

Dozens of people flocked to the library in Eden Place yesterday evening (March 20) to take part in a heated discussion over the replacement of the county’s children’s centres.

Cabinet member for children’s services, Warren Whyte, turned up to the meeting after facing public criticism for saying he would only attend the consultation in his hometown of Buckingham.

Plans to replace the 35 centres with nine hubs were given the green light in January, and Bucks County Council (BCC) arranged public meetings to discuss plans for the remaining buildings as part its new early help scheme.

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Families aired concerns over the replacement of the centres, and called for the council to collaborate with GP surgeries, schools and colleges in order to "better utilise" the centres, rather than close them.

However campaigners say they were left frustrated after it was suggested that Bucks County Council has limited funds to repurpose the centres, and services should be run by the community.

Mum-of-two Lynne Downing praised staff at the Disraeli centre for providing support and advice when she was diagnosed with post-natal depression and her baby became seriously ill.

She said: “It was just one thing after another and it just snowballed because her immune system was low, I got very very tired, over tired.

“In this two week period after you have a baby, you have got that time to recover in that two week period they don’t sleep a lot, I didn’t have that and I leant on the children’s centre a lot.

“There were stupid things, like I couldn’t put my buggy down one time and they help you out. They have got the knowledge.

“People say oh these mums go to the children’s centre to have a cup of coffee and watch our kids play – we do, for our own sanity.”

The Downley resident blamed the declining use of the centres on a lack of publicity, and added the council should be “building up” the service rather than cutting it.

Mum-of-three Laura Wilson said children’s centre staff “saved her life” after she became suicidal in October last year – as she struggled to cope with her son’s behaviour problems.

She sought help from staff at Millbrook Children’s Centre who arranged for her to have a counselling session and contacted a health visitor team to provide her with some child care.

She said: “The staff at Millbrook children's centre, the health visitors Helen and Julie, the counsellor Jan, the childminder Sarah and the family support group have helped me to stay alive this long.

“I have had to give up work and the only time I leave my house is to go to the centre or a support group. The staff at Millbrook really understand the families they help.

“They are amazing and I'm not the only one who thinks it. They saved my life and prevented my children from losing their mother.”

Cllr Whyte said the county council’s main focus now is to communicate any upcoming changes with families to use the centres.

There will be nine "community team bases", six of which have been identified, according to Cllr Whyte. 

He said: “One of the challenges that was put forward today is communication – how are we going to communicate what we are trying to do, plus what the new service will look like.

“How are we going to reassure parents that health checks, parenting classes will be continuing?

“Communication is a two way process. The challenge the council has is we can use all sorts of mechanisms through councillors, and newspapers, and web and social media trying to get the messages out there but the community has to take that all in.”