Campaigners are celebrating a mini-victory after plans to replace 35 “invaluable” children’s centres in Bucks had to be halted after councillors called in the decision.

The centres were set to be replaced with nine hubs after proposals were given the green light by Bucks County Council’s cabinet – but the plans will now be put on hold while they are re-reviewed after East Wycombe Independent Cllr Julia Wassell, the ward member for Ryemead and Micklefield, challenged the council’s decision.

She called in the decision alongside Cllrs Chaudhary Ditta, Martin Farrow and Niknam Hussain.

Alka Dass, who set up campaign group Save Bucks’ Children’s Centres and led a number of protests against the closures, welcomed the call-in, saying she and other campaigners had worked hard to convince residents to write into their councillors, asking them to call in the decision.

She said: “We are really, really glad that this has been heard.

“We want to try and keep all those children’s centres open.

“I am really pleased that this has halted the decision for now – but it is not just about halting it. It is about the fact that this has all been done from the consultation.

“This call in is one way of everyone being heard.”

Cllr Wassell said she challenged BCC’s decision as she “strongly” believed that “not all the relevant matters were taken into account in reaching the decision as a number of issues have since come to light”.

More than 2,000 people had their say in a consultation, which ran for three months and had to be extended after it received thousands of responses.

The team bases are proposed to be at seven of the existing children’s centres along with the remaining two areas – Quarrendon and Buckingham – currently being assessed for “appropriate locations”.

Council bosses said the future of the remaining 28 buildings will be decided with local communities, schools and early years providers.

But Cllr Wassell argued that the consultation was “flawed”, adding that if the county council did not know what it was going to do with the 28 sites, it should not have consulted with the public.

She will now present her views along with three witnesses – one being Ms Dass – to the children’s select committee.