Campaigners who have fought tirelessly to save Bucks’ children’s centres have slammed the county council for “not caring” about centres which have been left short-staffed as a result of the ongoing feud.

Parents involved in the Save Our Children’s Centres campaign have called for Bucks County Council (BCC) to work with them to improve services in the face of dwindling staff numbers.

The news comes after BCC backtracked on plans to cut children’s centre services in March, so further public consultations can take place.

Leader campaigner, Alka Dass, has also questioned why council chiefs have refused to meet with her to discuss the future of the centres.

Parents rallied together and launched the campaign last year after BCC revealed its plans to replace 35 centres in the county with nine centralised hubs under its early help scheme – which aims to streamline services.

Mrs Dass now says BCC needs to work to ensure more staff are recruited at the centres so parents continue to use the service over the summer.

She said: “I’ve been patiently waiting for us to have a meeting. The way Bucks have left the children’s centres us short staffed and they don’t seem to care.

“We don’t want to be in a position in September where the number of people attending centres has gone down drastically because of staff shortages.

“The centre managers are working really hard to ensure that they are recruiting but Bucks should be more willing to listen to parents and residents so we can discuss what is happening now.

Mrs Dass also slammed the fresh consultation as a “waste of taxpayers’ money”, and urged the council to “get their facts right” before launching another public consultation.

She added: “You don’t need to keep doing public consultations to know that people want to use the centres

“Surely before you do any public consultations again, they need to make sure they have their facts right.

“Surely they don’t want another resident to conduct a legal challenge/ judicial review because everyone will be watching to make sure things are done properly this time.”

A spokesman for BCC said more details regarding the next stage of the consultation will be released in the coming weeks.