AS? Devon County Council's cost-cutting spotlight shines on the county's children's centres, council representatives have claimed that services in West Devon including Tavistock could remain largely unchanged. The county council has begun a public consultation on proposals to re-think the way children's centre services are delivered across Devon. A proposal to re-tender children's centre contracts, based on Devon's eight district and city council boundaries, aims to help reduce management and administration cost, while protecting local services targeting those most in need and in rural communities. The consultation has been set up in the wake of more cost cutting from the county council. Over the last five years, the budget for the county's children's centre services has been reduced by £1.5-million, around 15% of its total. In the next three years, the £8.6-million currently being spent on the service is to reduce again, by a further 15% — £1.2-million. The first consultation meeting was held in Okehampton on Monday morning. Representatives from Devon County Council were joined by staff from West Devon's children's centres, parents and other stakeholders interested in hearing about the proposals. West Devon's children's centres are situated in Tavistock, Okehampton and Hatherleigh. The Tavistock Area Children's Centre at Abbey Rise in Tavistock is managed for Devon County Council by Barnardo's and has been providing support and services for families with children under five since 2007. It offers a variety of free sessions, such as baby massage, a baby drop-in clinic, stay and play sessions, young parents' groups, creches for family learning groups, holiday groups, craft or 'messy play' sessions, outdoor events, healthy eating workshops for families and parent and toddler groups Some of its sessions are run at various venues across the Tavistock area from Lifton to Woolwell. The county council's 'children's centres' review aims to reduce management costs to protect services for families. The council says that a proposal to re-tender children's centre contracts based on Devon's eight district/city council boundaries aims to help reduce management and administration costs whilst protecting local services targeting those most in need and in rural communities. Children's centre services are currently delivered out of 34 council-owned buildings as well as a range of community and health sites. The proposals would continue to provide a number of children's centres in each area whilst ensuring more outreach services are made available in rural areas. These could be delivered from a variety of locations and community buildings in partnership with other local service providers such as health, adult learning and Job Centre Plus. The meeting in Okehampton revealed that no firm plans had been made on exactly how children's centre services in West Devon would change under the proposals. Council representatives stressed that services in the borough may well remain largely unchanged, with the Okehampton and Hatherleigh centres already fitting the model suggested by the proposals. Councillor James McInnes, cabinet member with responsibility for children and young people's services, said: 'We know that children's centres and associated services are vitally important to help support families across Devon. 'We remain fully committed to delivering high quality, multi-agency services for children under five, and particularly to those families in greatest need. 'We will continue to support the delivery of local services, either directly from children's centres or through a range of outreach services. 'But given the current financial situation things simply cannot stay the same and we have to think again about the best way to provide this support to families for less money. 'I would encourage everyone to give us their views and to put forward their own ideas or suggestions on how best we can continue to provide and improve these important services.' Full details of the proposals and consultation events can be found at http://www.devon.gov.uk/toughchoices">www.devon.gov.uk/toughchoices The six week consultation is set to end by June 6. A final recommendation on the future of the service will be considered by Devon County Council's cabinet committee on July 9. l To see the review go to the website http://new.devon.gov.uk/childrenscentrereview">http://new.devon.gov.uk/childrenscentrereview