Protest over nursery closures

They will protest outside Lambeth Town Hall

Parents in a cash-strapped London borough are to hold a demonstration on Wednesday against the closure of children's clubs and playgrounds in the area.

Lambeth Council is considering shutting adventure playgrounds, three nurseries and several One O Clock clubs for children under six in order to help plug a multi-million pound gap in its budget.

But residents say the council is going back on its manifesto pledge not to close children's services.

They held a protest outside the town hall earlier this month and are planning a larger demonstration outside a full council meeting at 1800 GMT on Wednesday.

Bitter blow

Luke Plowden, one of the protesters, said: "This is a bitter blow for families in a borough that is already extremely poorly served in terms of facilities for children in deprived communities."

The council's executive member for education, Anthony Bottrall, said: "We have a budget gap of between £40m and £50m as a result of serious mismanagement in the borough in decades gone by.

"The last thing we, as an incoming administration, wanted to do was even consider closing facilities like these."

He added: "There are an awful lot of other cuts going on inside the administration of the council itself."