BRADFORD Council has been accused of "holding its constituents in contempt" after the announcement that several children's centres will see a reduced service.

Centres in Ilkley, Haworth and Baildon are among those that will go from being full, Ofsted accredited Sure Start children's centres to "delivery sites" as part of council measures to save around £2.4 million in the next year. A decision will be made on the proposals by the council's Executive on Tuesday.

Now two MPs representing rural areas of the district have hit out at the plans, claiming it shows that the Labour led council is "only interested in their central Bradford heartlands."

Last year the council had announced that several of its centres could be closed as a way to narrow its budget gap. But following a public consultation, the authority has decided that all 41 of its centres will remain open, but instead of each one being run by its own management, there will be seven management "clusters" responsible for the running several centres each and drastically cutting down on management staff.

The centres that will be downgraded to delivery sites are those in Thornton, Victoria Hall in Queensbury, Baildon, Little Lane in Ilkley, Menston and Burley, Bingley Rural, Trinity 5 Rise in Bingley, Daisy Chain in Silsden and Treetops in Haworth.

It leaves one of the clusters, which takes in Baildon, Ilkley and Bingley, with just three full children's centres for over 7,300 children.

The council has assured residents that all the services offered by the centres will continue to be offered, and may be provided in families homes.

The district's Conservative MPs have pointed out that the centres facing reduced services seem to be in areas with few or no Labour Councillors.

Keighley and Ilkley MP Kris Hopkins said: "Once again we see Labour-controlled Bradford Council targeting those areas of the district where most council tax is paid and next to nothing is delivered in return. Once again, residents in Silsden, Haworth and Ilkley are to be deprived by a group of Labour councillors motivated by winning votes rather than a need to look after all of the people they claim to serve. It is crude, it is coarse and it is wrong. I will certainly be doing all I can to end this most distasteful approach to decision-making in Bradford City Hall."

And Shipley MP Philip Davies said: "This again shows how the Labour Council in Bradford don’t care about the wider district and are only interested in their central Bradford heartlands. They downgrade the children’s centres in the parts of the district that contribute most in council tax and fully protect children’s centres in Bradford – including some which are virtually round the corner from each other. All of my constituents must now recognise the contempt with which Bradford Council hold them in.”

Councillor Ralph Berry, executive for children's services said: "The government has cut the early intervention grant by a third, but we haven't closed any children's centres. We have had no support from Kris Hopkins or Philip Davies in defending our funding.We will make sure that every parent in Ilkley, Baildon and these areas mentioned gets the services.

"Instead of working with us and discussing how best to proceed with these centres, all these two guys are doing is lobbing bricks from the sidelines."

The Executive committee meets at Bradford City Hall at 10.30am on Tuesday 4.