CIVIC chiefs heard pleas on Tuesday night not to scale down the Boredom Busters holiday club activities amid fears it would hit working parents.

Bournemouth Borough Council recently announced that it would provide Boredom Busters activities throughout Easter and the summer but no longer provide them across the full working day.

At the full council meeting Cllr Anne Rey demanded to know the reason behind the reduction of the Boredom Busters schemes, claiming they were "essential for hundreds of families".

Cabinet member for environment and leisure Cllr Bron Littlewood cited "budget pressures" as the reason for the decision.

She added that in future recreation activities would be expanded in leisure centres and play work expanded in the Beaufort, Townsend and West Howe areas.

Cllr Littlewood said she was "confident" working parents would be able to find other childcare or all-day activities that met their needs during school holidays.

There are still seven established registered childcare holiday schemes in Bournemouth catering for children aged four to 16 and also some holiday provision for children aged two to eight years available through nurseries and pre-schools, she added.

Families would also benefit from the Extended Schools Initiative which would begin to roll out an increasing range of activities for children of all ages primarily during the summer holidays but eventually throughout the year.

Cllr Rey suggested that the funding problems could be solved if education and social services helped to fund Boredom Busters rather than just leisure services.

Speaking after the meeting Cllr Rey said: "Boredom Busters has been so successful and the parents pay so where is this coming from about the budget?

"I know a lot of parents of disabled children have emailed the council about this."