A SHAKE-UP of children’s services in Keighley has seen children’s centres in Braithwaite and Marley become Family Hubs.

Staff from Bradford Council and other organisations now work across Keighley from their bases in the Rainbow and Strong Close centres.

Workers such as midwives and health visitors provide outreach sessions at venues including Highfield Community Centre and the former Daisy Chain children’s centre in Silsden.

Meanwhile, the former Low Fold Family Centre at Exley Head is earmarked for use by a different council department such as Social Care or Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

And the former Treetops Children’s Centre in Haworth is set to be used by the adjacent Haworth Primary School.

The shake-up was approved by Bradford Council in July this year following public consultation, and a progress report was recently presented to the council’s Keighley Area Committee.

The council announced the changes earlier this year, blamed on cuts to public spending, and as part of a major review of 41 buildings it was using to provide prevention and early help services.

The plan was to instead provide services to children, young people and families in a range of community buildings, based around a small number of Family Hubs.

The council insisted it was not cutting services but simply making the best use of existing resources and spending more on frontline workers rather than buildings.

But councillors at the time expressed concern that young mothers in Silsden, Haworth and villages further afield would lose access to services needed for their children’s health and their own mental well-being.

The area committee heard that the new Family Hubs provide a base for key teams, particularly the birth-to-19 service which includes health visitors and school nurses.

The hubs also provide an information network, support efforts to reduce family poverty, and provide focused work to build family relationships and improve children’s futures.

Building work has been carried out at the Rainbow Centre, and the venue’s services include childcare.

Health visitors and midwives continue to work from Silsden’s former Daisy Chain, now known as the Hive.