A COMMUNITY-LED project backed by more than 1,500 people will take on a former children's centre after a council chose it over another bid.

Florence Park Children's Centre will be run by charity Aspire after Oxfordshire County Council's cabinet approved its bid instead of the Aflah Nursery, which had asked to run the centre earlier this summer.

Aspire will now receive £30,000 over the next three years from the council from a £1m pot to help groups reopen community centres closed following cuts.

Discussions between the two groups over sharing the building broke down earlier this year.

Aspire's bid was supported by a number of councillors who spoke in its favour at a meeting at County Hall in Oxford today. 

Alexander Massey, who supported Aspire, said: "I'm exhausted. It has been a long haul and this hour and a half has been an emotional rollercoaster.

"I am pleased for us and for the bid and that it has moved so many people in the community but I so want to speak to the Aflah Nursery people to extend friendship and see what can be done."

Aspire said they hoped the centre will be able to reopen by April next year.

Aqib Hafeez, who sits on the Aflah Nursery's senior management team, said: "We came with an open mind and we leave with an open mind.

"We are going to try to stay in the area. Some of our parents walk with their children to the nursery so obviously if they have to travel that would be a disappointment."

Aflah Nursery is currently based at the Regal Community Centre but had wanted to move into the Florence Park Children's Centre, in Rymers Lane.

Supporters of Aflah Nursery's bid said they had been 'dismayed by the animosity' which they claimed had been stirred up by the bids at an earlier meeting.

Dr Hafeez said backers for the other bid had been 'very aggressive' at a meeting held in July but that others had been respectful since.

Aspire had Oxford City Council's backing. The council £15,000 will be given to help its proposal over the next year.

Councillor Linda Smith, the city council's executive board member for leisure, parks and sport, said an existing contract for a cafe in the centre would not be 'a deal breaker'.

So far 27 groups have received assistance from the council's transition fund.