A NEW £500,000 state-of-the-art respite care centre for disabled children is to open on the site of a children's nursery.

But angry parents are still hoping Kelsall Avenue Nursery in Little Harwood can be saved and they have demanded showdown talks with council officials over its controversial closure.

And they have said unless evidence is produced detailing the consultation over the closure they will be seeking legal advice against Blackburn with Darwen Council.

The Gatehouse centre in Blackburn is to be replaced with the purpose-built centre which will incorporate the latest standards in modern care and act as a day care centre and information resource for parents.

Coun Maureen Bateson, deputy leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "We are looking at the site of Kelsall Avenue nursery school, which will become available later this year when the nursery relocates to the new children's centre."

Meanwhile a letter has been sent from the Kelsall Nursery School Action Group to all councillors and the authority's Early Years team inviting them all to a meeting in Little Harwood Community Centre on Friday.

It follows a second public meeting held last Friday, which was attended by more than 70 people but only one councillor, Little Harwood's Councillor Salim Sidat.

And according to Diane Sleigh, chairman of the Kelsall Nursery action group, this will be the third and final public meeting before the matter is taken to the courts.

She said: "As councillors and officers of the council they have a clear and moral duty as well as a legal obligation to prove that we, the parents and community of Little Harwood, have not been deceived."

The proposals are part of a £1.5million restructure by Blackburn with Darwen Council. The Children's Centre, which will replace the existing Church Hill House Nursery, Kelsall Nursery and a group held at the community centre by next summer, is part of a government plan to improve schooling in the most deprived wards.

The centres include health services and a base for childminders.

But critics of the Little Harwood scheme claimed it would have been better served at the purpose-built nursery in Kelsall Avenue.

Mrs Sleigh said the children would lose the garden and nature areas in favour of a smaller playground.

Coun Bateson said she was happy with how they had handled the matter and even claimed the scheme had been given "overwhelming" support.