DEDICATED campaigners have secured the return of children's centre services to Abingdon more than a year after they were axed due to cuts.

A new lease has now been signed for the South Abingdon Children's Centre, which will reopen next month in time for the autumn term.

Behind the revival is a community group called Abingdon Carousel, set up to save the centre after it shut in April 2017.

Following a business plan submitted by the group, Oxfordshire County Council agreed in June last year to hand over £35,500 to help the centre relaunch some of its services, and a more than £100,000 grant has been pledged by Abingdon Town Council to be paid out over the next three years.

Project co-ordinator Gemma Clack was appointed in January to take on the management of the Caldecott Close centre but complicated negotiations delayed an official lease being signed for the building, which is owned by the county council and leased by Caldecott School.

Abingdon Carousel chairman Lesley Legge explained: “The first lease we were offered did not take account of our business plan which includes the hiring out of rooms to suitable organisations offering the kind of services that will complement our own activities.

"However, after months of negotiation we finally got a lease that we, and the school, and the county council are all happy with, one that enables us to bring in income to make us sustainable.”

Caldecott School will take around a third of the building while the new charity will occupy the rest – running everything from stay-and-play sessions for toddlers to healthy eating and cooking classes.

Town councillor Samantha Bowring, who drew together local support in the early days of the campaign, said: “We tried a number of different approaches with various partners, but the numbers just didn’t stack up.

"We finally found a robust formula in partnership with Caldecott School.

"Once we knew we had a workable business plan and committed funding we set ourselves up as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation and began to negotiate the lease with the county council.”

In April, the councillor said the new team was 'ready to go', adding: "It's about making sure the next generation of parents get access to the same support, though it is more reliant on volunteers than it was before."

The building, which will now be called the Abingdon Carousel Family Centre, will be offering a variety of services for families, children and vulnerable adults.

Other organisations already lined up to begin working from the centre include Citizens Advice Abingdon, health visitors, the Downs Syndrome Association, Inspiring Minds and Abingdon Carbon Cutters.

The centre will be open five days a week in term-time to start with and from next year organisers plan to run weekend and holiday sessions.

Abingdon MP Layla Moran said she was 'delighted' the centre would be reopening and praised the hard work of councillors and the community in reviving the service.

She added: "I know how important the centre has been to local families over the two decades it has been open at the current site."

Oxfordshire County Council stopped funding 31 of the county’s 44 children’s centres from last April.

North Abingdon Children’s Centre also shut last February due to the cuts.

Abingdon Carousel succeeded in bidding for a share of a £1m pot set aside by the county council to help centres keep going.

Around 20 volunteers have already been signed up for a variety of work including helping at play sessions, event management, gardening, painting, reception duties and administration.

There will be a chance to find out more at an open day on September 1 to speak to centre staff and volunteers.

On Friday and Saturday volunteers are also needed to help clear the centre's garden, register via abingdoncarousel.org.uk