A High Court challenge over plans to close two east London children’s centres has been dropped after Hackney Council admitted its consultation was “unlawful”.
The council had planned to shut Fernbank and Sebright centres in Stoke Newington and Haggerston, slashing 129 of its 600 subsidised childcare places.
But campaigners launched legal action over complaints the council had “misled the community” and failed to explore alternative options.
Just before the final hearing, the council conceded its consultation materials were “not sufficiently clear” and announced it would settle the case “by consent” following legal advice.
Two other centres - Oldhill in Clapton and Hillside in Stamford Hill - were also facing cuts under the plans, with services potentially reduced to term-time only.
The "Save Hackney Children's Centres" campaign group secured legal aid and raised additional funds through crowdfunding to challenge the proposals. Following their victory, the judge ordered the council to pay their legal costs.
Natalie Aguilera, whose child attends Fernbank Nursery, told the BBC: "The truth is that closing Sebright and Fernbank children's centres and reducing services at Hillside and Oldhill is a political choice, made at the expense of the youngest members of our community who cannot yet speak for themselves."
Parent Tim Cowbury added: "My family relies so much on these services. Hopefully, the council understands how significant the impact would have been to local families had it gone through with its proposals."
The council says it will present new plans for the centres' future soon.
A spokesperson for Hackney Council said: "The council stands by the need to make changes to the way we provide subsidised childcare in order to make our early years provision more sustainable, as a result of rising costs, staffing challenges and overall financial pressures on local authorities."
They added: "However in light of the advice we have received we do not believe it is in residents’ best interests to use any further resources to defend the legal challenge.
"We will take this opportunity to review our approach on how to make our early years provision more sustainable in the future, and present future plans as soon as it is practically possible."
