CHILDREN and parents have been banned from a centre which aims to give youngsters a good start in life -- because they come from the wrong area.

Some regulars at the Halliwell Sure Start centre have been told that they can no longer use it following a clampdown on people from other districts such as Heaton and Horwich.

Organisers says this is because the Government-funded centre was set up to target under-privileged families in Halliwell -- an area with identified high levels of poverty.

Moira Morris, from Heaton, has been taking her 19-month-old grand-daughter, Holly Oliver, to parent and toddler sessions run by Sure Start at its centre in Shepherd Cross Street and at Oxford Grove school for a year. Mrs Morris, aged 54, said: "It is appalling. We are supporting this community project and this is what we get. My grand-daughter will miss playing with her new friends.

"We should have been told about this when we registered in the beginning and paid our £10."

Marie Strickland, of Seaton Road, Brownlow Fold, was told she could no longer take grandson Jake to the centre, while Carol Harwood, aged 33, from Heaton, and Joanne Kenny, aged 24, from Rumworth, have been told they can stay.

But Mrs Kenny said: "Our children have become firm friends and it's a real shame to split them up."

The centre is one of four in Bolton. Only the poorest 20 per cent of wards in the country qualify for funding.

Sylvia Ashworth, operations manager for Sure Start in Halliwell, said: "Sure Start has a clear agenda to provide services working in disadvantaged communities to help people living in poverty with young children.

"For that reason, we have had to discourage people who live in areas like Markland Hill, Barrow Bridge and Horwich, where there are no obvious difficulties and employment is high.

"We don't want to appear negative but we have to work to these strict criteria."