FOUR city children’s centres, which were due to close, have won a reprieve and will now stay open .

Amid mass parent and staff opposition, Liverpool council has confirmed it now intends to retain the once seemingly doomed community hubs.

However, the operations of Church and Mossley Hill, Hunts Cross, West Derby, and Childwall and Woolton children’s centres will be trimmed down, and 19 jobs are still set to go in order for the council to make the £1.2m required savings it blames on government funding cuts.

Campaigners who orchestrated eye-catching protests and handed over petitions with more than 11,000 signatures against the cuts last night spoke of their joy that “the heartbeat of communities” would remain open.

Council leader Joe Anderson said calling off the closures was proof the council “had listened during genuine consultation” and by streamlining the provision would “secure the long-term future” of the centres which offer everything from ante-natal classes to financial advice.

The reprieve, expected to be rubber-stamped by the council’s cabinet next Friday, will mean the centres remain as social meeting venues and bases for community groups and retain basic services including access to health visitors, ante and post natal classes and story telling sessions.

But, in order to help plug the funding black hole, users requiring specialist and niche services such as speech and language therapy and clinics for children with sleep deprivation will be signposted to neighbouring “satellite” children’s centres no more than two miles away.

Help with travel will be offered in some cases and others can arrange for specialists to visit them.

Staffing and administration will be streamlined, with managers expected in some cases to cover more than one centre.