CONCERNS have been raised that a shake-up of Bradford's network of children's centres will leave the district's rural areas at a disadvantage.

At present there are 41 centres but Bradford Council must save £2.4 million on the service next year and officials have come up with two suggestions to save management costs.

One would be to run them as a network of 12 clusters, with the second to have only seven clusters to operate services across the district.

Detail of exactly how they would operate still have to be decided because the centres' services are provided by a range of organisations including the Council, schools and private contractors.

In future, that might change and it is possible some services will be offered directly to families rather than through centres.

The Council's ruling executive will decide in November on whether to accept a plan to either redrawn the district's map into 12 districts or seven for children's centres.

Last week details of the options were outlined at the Council's children's services scrutiny committee and chairman, Councillor Malcolm Sykes, asked officers to find out if there are any other contributions to be made.

"We are asking for a more inclusive, creative look about where we make savings of £2.4m from," he said.

However, the Council's Conservative group has now made a submission as part of a consultation over the future of the centres highlighting that both options could leave rural areas with less accessible services than city communities.

It argues that accessibility is a legal requirement and that need has not been addressed.

It states: "Under the seven cluster model a family in Bingley could be expected to travel to Ilkley and even under the 12 cluster model a family from Silsden is expected to travel to Haworth.

"This contrasts with the more central areas of Bradford where both Little Horton and Tong wards each have three children's centres all within walking distance of each other.

"The Council report acknowledges that “many city centre children’s centres are within very close proximity”.

"There should be a recognition that there are more support services available in the more central areas of Bradford.

"The more rural parts of the district have been penalised yet again and we urge a re-think of the current proposals taking into account the geography of the district and the practicalities of just how the children and families will be able to meaningfully use children's centres in the future."

Although the funding cuts will bite from next April, it is expected to be October 2015 before the complexities of the system can be ironed out and new arrangements put into place.