Parents fear a newly-built children’s centre in Ilkley could be earmarked for closure as Bradford Council prepares to tackle millions of pounds of funding cuts.

Although the Council has yet to reveal its plans for the future of its 41 Sure Start centres, worried parents have already drawn up a petition calling for Ilkley’s Little Lane hub – only opened last summer – to be protected.

There are also fears that new Sure Start children’s centres in Silsden and Menston could be affected. Bradford Council said all decisions about their future funding will be decided by at a City Hall budget meeting on Thursday, February 24.

Concerned Ilkley parent Jenny Yeardley says the Little Lane centre has been a great success with a huge demand for the services from parents.

She said: “It’s vastly over-subscribed.”

Copies of the petition can be signed at several children’s clothing and goods shops in Ilkley.

Sure Start children’s centres were set up with Government funding to provide support to families with pre-school age children.

Bradford is expecting a reduction of more than £4 million in its annual share of the Early Intervention Grant, which is spent on the facilities and other services.

A new study by the Daycare Trust and 4Children claims that up to 250 Sure Start centres could close within the year, with staff at many more being warned about the threat of redundancy and a reduction in services.

David Cameron told the House of Commons yesterday that the chief executive of the Daycare Trust, Anand Shukla, had said the Government had “allocated sufficient funding for the existing network of Sure Start children’s centres to be maintained”.