ONLY ten of 13 planned children’s services hubs are being created in a county.

Work is under way on the £9m County Durham project, which will bring local authority and health services for young people together under one roof from September.

Planned hubs in Crook, Thornley and Durham City have been scrapped.

Work is proceeding on hubs at Seaham, Peterlee, Stanley, Consett, Chester-le-Street, Ushaw Moor, Bishop Auckland, Newton Aycliffe and in Ferryhill.

A hub in Barnard Castle, is already in operation.

Seven of the centres will be in new buildings, with the remaining three in refurbished buildings.

More than 1,200 Durham County Council and County Durham and Darlington Foundation NHS Foundation Trust staff are affected by the project, with 240 posts to be lost.

However, 188 posts will be created, a net loss of 52 jobs.

Consultation with the affected staff is continuing and it is hoped compulsory redundancies can be minimised through voluntary redundancies and early retirement.

The hubs will offer services such as health visiting, school nursing, educational psychology, family and parenting support, behaviour support and careers advice for children and young people under 19.

Each of the ten teams will have its own management committee, which will include parents, young people, local teachers, GPs and other connected services.

Council officers say bringing the services together will be more efficient and provide better support, as well as more effective early intervention to help prevent problems.

However, unions say young people would lose out because dedicated departments would be merged.

David Williams, the county council’s corporate director of children’s services, said: “It will enable us to provide services and support more effectively, which will result in better outcomes for young people and their families.

“By developing a single service, we will also see improved efficiencies in terms of management and administration.”