COUNCILLORS have refused to change their decision not to dedicate a chunk of money to saving children's services in their town.

Conservative members of Abingdon Town Council refused to budge on their initial dismissal of a Liberal Democrat motion, which asked them to inject up to £60,000 into its community services budget ahead of funding cuts to children's centres.

Neil Fawcett, who put forward the motion at a meeting in July when it was recommended for refusal, was told they did not have money to spare and it could jeopardise their chance of getting cash from Oxfordshire County Council.

He said at a full council meeting on Wednesday: "I hope that you are willing to reconsider. It's about preparing ourselves should we not get the funding for a significant contribution."

Councillor Sandy Lovatt, who stressed the importance of children's centres, said: "We are not against this in principle but feel it is the wrong moment.

"I feel this would be allowing the county council off the hook. I don't want them to think we are saying 'don't worry, if you can't do it we'll do it'. That's a bad message to send them."

Oxfordshire County Council will cut funding in April for 31 of Oxfordshire's 44 children's centres - including North Abingdon Children's Centre and South Abingdon Children's Centre - and two of seven early intervention hubs, replacing them with a new targeted service for vulnerable youngsters.

It has set aside £1m to help community groups run the centres themselves, but announced last month that the one-off grants were capped at a £30,000 for each centre and rents for the buildings could be as much as £10,000 a year.

Mr Lovatt said he was meeting with the council later this month, adding: "They are going to be attacked pretty hard about this by all of the Abingdon members."

Groups set up to sustain the services, including South Abingdon Community Group which is grappling to save the centre in Caldecott Chase, have until October 21 to apply for the first round of grants.

Town councillor Samantha Bowring, who set up the group, said at the meeting: "Without an anchor grant the odds are currently against it succeeding."

Mr Fawcett added: "We risk missing the boat in terms of getting a business plan in. I'm worried about putting all our eggs in one basket. We may find that we have backed the wrong horse."

But Mike Badcock, leader of the council, said: "With our ongoing commitments it doesn't look like we have got the money to spare."

The motion was voted down by eight votes to nine, with two abstentions.

Paul Smith, a spokesman for Oxfordshire County Council, said: "Across our communities there is huge appetite among community groups to develop and deliver open access children's services.

"We are engaged in positive discussions all over the county - we remain keen to talk to the people of Abingdon."