THE Government last night halted plans for an £800,000 play park at the eleventh hour – a week after children were promised it would go ahead.

Oxfordshire County Council believed Play Barton, an indoor and outdoor play area based on three sites on the city estate, had escaped the Westminster axe because contracts for the work had already been signed.

But now Education Secretary Michael Gove has told County Hall to halt all work on the project – even though contracts are signed – to allow Whitehall officials to review the plan in their hunt for £1bn in savings, .

The news has been described as a “double whammy” for families on the estate, coming less than a month after they were told an £8m revamp of Bayards Hill Primary School had also been shelved.

Barton county councillor Liz Brighouse said: “One minute everything is going through and the next minute everything is under threat again.”

“It is a double whammy for the poorest area of Oxfordshire and one of the poorest in the country.

“tI will fight this all the way to Downing Street. It’s disgraceful.”

The county council, which had received £800,000 to help fund the Play Barton scheme, said it genuinely believed the funding was secure as contracts were in place.

The project was being carried out in partnership with Oxford City Council.

But Mr Gove’s letter has told authorities to halt any scheme where work has not started – regardless of any contractual liabilities.

The order comes after the secretary of state’s apology in the House of Commons, following a bungled announcement on wider cuts to schools funding. Work on the Barton project was scheduled to start in September.

Louise Chapman, the council’s cabinet member for children, young people and families, said: “We’ve only just been given the news having been told contractually committed schemes would be honoured.

“We genuinely believed they would go ahead. We’re now told it will only be schemes where physical work has actually started.”

The letter to local authorities sets out the Department of Education’s plan to save £1bn this financial year.

On Play Capital – the scheme providing funding for Play Barton – it states: “Capital grant that is not yet spent, or where there is no evidence of a strong case to continue the contractual commitments entered into, may be retained by the department.”

On the amount of cash it is looking to save from the projects, it simply said “to be determined”.

The letter instructed councils not to start work on site, regardless of contracts.

It added: “The Play Strategy Team will be contacting authorities to request information on the liabilities already incurred and to confirm revised allocations by August.”

A number of smaller schemes – in Carterton, Shipton Under Wychwood, Blewbury, Middle Barton, Hook Norton, Sandfield Road and Bury Knowle Park in Oxford, Appleton, and St Louis Meadow in Banbury – each with funding of £47,000 may also be affected by the announcement.

cburatta@oxfordmail.co.uk