A TERRIBLE decision has been made by Hampshire County Council.

The confirmation last Friday to close most of the Sure Start centres in Hampshire is a retrograde step.

They were set up by the Labour government to help parents in the first couple of years. By early intervention and support children would get a better start in life with benefits down the line.

They have been regarded as a success and cost-effective because such help prevents more expensive intervention by social services or the NHS at a later stage.

All that is endangered. The county council may be keeping 11 out of the 43 Sure Start centres but every one in Winchester is to close.

The only one left in the area covered by Winchester City Council will be in Wickham. The council justifies Wickham on the grounds that it is a deprived area. You can make any argument with statistics; what about the fact that parts of Stanmore and Winnall are in the bottom quarter for deprivation in the entire country?

And yet parents, often depressed, or cash-strapped or with little motivation, are being asked to get a bus around 20 miles to Wickham, not even on a direct route, to get advice and support.

This county council decision is a classic for an authority that is in reality never going to relinquish power and never has to seriously weigh the electoral impact of its decisions.