TWO staff working on an £800,000 Oxford play project have been laid off because the Government delayed a crunch decision on funding.

A four-man team had been assembled last year for Play Barton, based on agreed Government cash.

But the grant was put on hold in July as the Department for Education strived to shave £1bn from its budget.

Whitehall has still not made a decision on whether the cash will be released – meaning two staff contracts had to be terminated at the end of September.

The project would provide indoor and outdoor play facilities across three sites on the estate.

City councillor Van Coulter, a trustee of the joint Oxfordshire County and Oxford City Council project, said the two staff members had been on fixed-term contracts until next year.

He said: “We’ve been hoping that the funding announcement would be made and it would be clear to us what we can afford.

“But because it’s been delayed and delayed we can’t be assured of money to cover the cost of salaries and we have to cut our suit to match the cloth available.”

Mr Coulter said the project had made financial commitments based on the agreed funding, such as office space and staff and commissioned work that had to be paid for.

He said the future of the two remaining staff, contracted to next March, was also uncertain.

“How long can we have staff in office not knowing what the funding will be?” he said.

The Department for Education promised to make a revised decision on funding “by August” when it originally froze cash on July 15.

Spokesman Charlotte Redman said: “The Government has to make some difficult choices in order to address the budget deficit.

“Local authorities will be notified of revised play capital allocations in due course.”

The department declined to comment on the Play Barton redundancies.