Your inaccurate article about Lambeth’s Stay and Play One O’Clock clubs (Union unveils proposals to save popular kids clubs, June 14) will have led to a great deal of unnecessary concern among parents and carers.

The council is not closing these centres as your article states.

In fact the picture you paint could not be more misleading – instead we have really exciting plans for youth and play services, that involve giving people a much greater say in running them as part of the co-operative council.

As part of that process we have been inviting applications and expressions of interest from a range of community and voluntary organisations to become involved in running One O’ Clock Clubs and we welcome the application from the union and staff, which your piece highlighted.

It will be judged by the same criteria as the other applications.

The plans that have been put forward by staff are entirely in line with our hopes for our One O’Clock clubs.

However, the service will have to be delivered with the funding that is available.

We will be making a decision very soon so that we can move into this new way of providing a much-valued service to our residents.

It is a shame that this article will have left many of your readers with a wholly wrong impression about the future of these much-loved centres.

Councillor Rachel Heywood, cabinet member for children and families