THE report of the county cabinet meeting that appeared in the Oxford Mail (May 25) was incorrect to say that the county council Lib Dem group supports the proposals for the future of the county’s children’s centres and early intervention service.

We acknowledge the greatly increased pressures on child protection services at a time when national government is heavily reducing funding for council services, but we do not think that the only response to pressure on acute services is to do away with preventative services across large swathes of the county.

We have consistently argued that the proposals put out for consultation last summer were insufficiently thought through in the first place.

Our response to that consultation is on our website (oxfordshirelibdems.org.uk).

We are particularly disappointed that the allocation agreed last week of the £2m ‘reprieved’ from the 2016-17 budget cut has done little as yet to redress the inequitable balance of universal provision across the county.

Much of rural Oxfordshire will have no centre within reach and parts of the city with significant deprivation will be similarly affected.

Many centres have between now and next March to secure alternative funding, about which expectations of the proposals seem to be rather glib and optimistic.

Our aims for these important months are to ensure that the transition money allocated to help community groups in their search for funds is concentrated on those areas from which existing financial support is being withdrawn, and that a specific focus is kept on preserving a basic network of county-wide provision and hanging on to purpose-built premises, so that when times improve the phoenix can rise from the ashes.

JEAN FOOKS Liberal Democrat spokesperson on children’s services County councillor for Wolvercote and Summertown St Bernard’s Road Oxford.