A play centre that helps vulnerable children is calling for a rethink after being turned down for Oxford City Council funding for the first time in 25 years.

The Donnington Doorstep Family Centre is a free family drop-in centre, which has been open since the 1980s, supported by the council.

The centre helps almost 2,000 children and adults a year, with an average of 85 visitors using the centre each day.

It is building a £30,000 dedicated area for children and young people, paid for with a council grant.

But now, for the first time in its history, the Donnington Doorstep has been left out in this year's funding allocation, which has seen £1.6m shared among 70 community groups.

Centre manager Anna Thorne said: "We applied for a grant of £20,000, to go towards the cost of running play activities for five to 17-year-olds in the Donnington area.

"The project is targeted at those who don't have access to high-quality child care, and those at risk of social exclusion or possibly offending, and will be backed up by one-to-one support when needed.

"But now, for the first time in almost 25 years, there will be no guaranteed funding for us from the city council.

"Ironically, the grant we applied for was specifically to run activities for children and young people out of our new Over Eights upstairs space - the building of which the city council has already committed over £30,000 to.

"So we will have the space to open, but no money to run anything from it.

"I'm furious, because I just don't understand why we weren't given the money we have had every other year.

"I feel that the application met all the criteria - we offer important play services to children who otherwise don't have access to high-quality child care.

"It's like we have had the rug pulled from under our feet."

A council spokesman said: "Oxford City Council wishes to prioritise funding for those projects that provide added value to existing or new provision, through joint partnership working.

"The council does not wish to replace or duplicate other organisations' responsibilities or funding.

"For this year's grants to voluntary and community groups, we received three times the amount of applications than we could fund, therefore we had to prioritise carefully."

But the family centre has not given up hope. Ms Thorne said: "There is still a chance that funding can be found for Doorstep. Without it, we're not sure what the future holds.

"Apparently the budget can be revised and the original decisions changed so please take some action now and contact your local councillor.

"Doorstep is used by families, children and young people from all over the city. Please, let your councillors know that."