THE future 'home' of the children's centre in Okehampton, which offers a range of services to young families, is this week a little unsure.

The Sure Start facility is presently located at the Ockment Centre, the town's main community resource centre. But its management committee has heard rumours that Devon County Council, which backs the project through Government funding, is looking to move the children's centre to Okehampton College.

Town councillor and Ockment Centre trustee Tony Leech asked members of the council's planning committee on Tuesday to the county council for clarification on where exactly it intends the centre to operate from.

He said: 'The management and trustees of the Ockment Centre have been trying to get a meeting with Devon County Council for some months to discuss the issues surrounding the children's centre, to date without success.

'I would like the town council to try and find exactly what is going on and what the driving force is behind the proposal.'

The centre is managed by the children's charity Barnado's and was set up a few years ago under a Government scheme, which saw many such centres spring up throughout the country.

The funds were given to the county council to operate the service.

Although the Okehampton centre is run by Barnardo's and has been there for more than 18 months, under the Sure Start banner it brings together childcare, early education, health and family-support services for families with children under five years old.

Mr Leech was full of praise for those who run the service at the Ockment Centre, adding that the children's centre did a great job for the young families in the area.

He told the Times: 'If the county council want to move it to the college that's up to them. However, my personal view is that some young mums and dads would not like to go to the college because to them it would "be like going back to school" and they would prefer to continue at the Ockment Centre as a venue, which offers them a more neutral environment.'

A spokesperson for Barnado's felt it would be more appropriate for the county council to comment.

The Ockment Centre had been in danger before due to lack of funding but in October 2007 the county council granted funds to pay for essential roof repairs and a heating system and provided £25,000 in emergency funds.

Ockment Centre manager Lindsey Svensson said: 'Devon County Council as owners of the centre gave us a two-year "rent holiday" from April 2008 to March 2010 at £9,500 per annum with the understanding that we would house the children's centre's administrative hub without charge — although they do also rent rooms from us for their activities.'

Of the rumours that the children's centre could be moving to Okehampton College she added: 'It would be helpful to us to know what the situation is so we could plan for the future, as if they move it will obviously have a large impact upon us.'

Mrs Svensson said it would also be helpful if the county council would let the centre know as soon as possible whether it intends to extend the rent holiday — she hopes this will happen regardless of whether or not the children centre's administration hub moves in recognition of the other services provided to the community by the Ockment Centre.

She added: 'The huge amount of public support in response to the threat of closure of the centre in 2007 surely provides enough evidence for the county council to provide this relatively small amount of financial help.'

A county council spokesperson said: 'We are having to explore possible options for the Okehampton Children's Centre hub, as the Ockment Centre has made it clear that it cannot accommodate the needs of the service. No decisions have been taken.'

However, this came as a surprise to Cllr Leech, who responded to this statement by the county council: 'As we have not actually had an official meeting with Devon County Council to discuss this matter fully, they do not know if we can or cannot accommodate the children's centre.'