A campaigner who has fought against the closure of children’s centres across Bucks has urged the county council to “get it right this time” as plans for a fresh consultation are revealed.

Last week Bucks County Council (BCC) announced it has appointed an independent agency, BMG Research, to help run a public consultation on changes to the Early Help service – which supports parents of children aged up to 19.

The consultation will also include talks on plans to replace 35 children’s centres in the county with centralised hubs – after initial talks were abandoned in March.

Over the summer BMG research will work with families and partner organisations to help design the public consultation, which is expected to officially start in October.

The official consultation will run for 10 weeks and will give people the chance to have their say on how the service is delivered, through surveys and public meetings.

Campaigner Alka Dass has urged BCC to be “open and transparent” with families throughout the new consultation.

She also branded the new round of talks “a waste of taxpayers’ money”, stating the council should have already gathered enough information to plan changes to the service.

She said: “It is great that they are trying to get it right this time, however they have got to be fully transparent with people, and let people know they will be contacted for an in-depth interview.

“[The consultation] is a waste of taxpayers’ money. By now they should have collected enough information to put together a public document.

“It is the third time lucky. They should be looking at building the centres up rather than close them.

“If they are closing them, then they should let people know.” A spokesman for BCC said BMG research has been appointed to ensure a wide range of views are collected to help redesign the Early Help service. The spokesman said:

“BMG has been appointed so we can obtain as wide and representative a range of views as possible to help inform any redesign of our Early Help services, which support parents of children aged from 0-19.

“This stage of the process is not part of the public consultation, which begins in October, but will provide valuable research for any future plans. Public meetings will be held during the consultation stage and we will give as much notice of these as possible.”