Parents have won their fight to stop an “invaluable” crèche at a Carshalton leisure centre from closing following a campaign.

Everyone Active said, following an “extensive review” of usage of facilities at Westcroft Leisure Centre, they decided to axe the facility from May 10 onwards.

Its operators say their review found that, throughout the day, the crèche had been underused for a period of time – hence why it was closing.

But after a petition was launched by Kirsty Willis, challenging the claim and urging for it to remain open, Everyone Active confirmed it wouldn’t be shutting.

Instead, they will continue operating it until mid-August before it’s taken over by childcare provider Tilleys.

Rebecca Eyles, Everyone Active’s contract manager, said: “The crèche at Westcroft Leisure Centre has been historically underused. In order to continue providing a form of childcare provision, we have been working to find a partner organisation to manage the facility.

“We’re pleased to announce that local childcare provider Tilleys will be taking over the childcare provision on August 19. Our team at Westcroft Leisure Centre will continue to operate the facility until that point.

“Details of the partnership are currently being outlined and our members have been informed directly about this change. We will keep our members up-to-date in the lead up to Tilleys taking over.”

Kirsty, a mum-of-three from Beddington, says parents welcome the decision but believes there are still questions that need answering, like whether staff will retain their jobs under the new management.

She also spoke of the frustration people had apparently being told of the decision just under a couple weeks before it would be closing.

It was after discussing potential alternatives that she decided to launch the petition on Change.org, which gathered nearly 300 online signatures.

Kirsty said: “We're pleased that, in the short-term, things are going to stay as they have been. Until mid-August it's going to run exactly as it has been and then, come mid-August, they're going to taken over by a private provider [Tilleys].

“Which is also good.

“Nobody wants to pay more but what everybody's initial concerns were, when they didn't consult anybody, was that they were going to close the crèche and not offer any other provision, or they offered no consultation.

“Basically it was a lack of transparency that created this sort of upset initially.

“Initially, everyone is happy. In terms of thank goodness, we can carry on using it and it means we have somewhere where we can leave our children.”

Kirsty said she understands the initial decision but believes telling members at an earlier stage would have been a better way of going about things.