Reprieve for threatened outdoor study centre

A threatened residential activity centre has been reprieved after councillors turned down plans to use the site for a new secure children's home.

Hampshire County Council cabinet members voted unanimously to find an alternative site to Stubbington Study Centre, near Fareham in Hampshire.

Teachers, parents groups and councillors had campaigned for the plans to be reversed, with a petition to save the centre attracting more than 20,000 signatures.

Council leader Nick Adams-King said there was "more work to do" to meet the "urgent need" for a new specialist children's home in Hampshire.

The centre at Stubbington has four outdoor classrooms, a hide for watching wildlife, a pond and an orienteering course. It is used by 6,500 pupils each year.

Most visitors stay overnight in on-site dormitories, but it also currently offers day camps and holiday activity programmes.

It was one of 35 sites considered for the replacement of Swannick Children's home which Hampshire County Council would receive £60m funding from the Department for Education.

The council said the funding was subject to it being able to confirm by the end of March that a suitable location was available and could not be used for the purchase of any new land.

Mr Adams-King said the response to the consultation showed the Stubbington Study Centre was "well-loved and highly popular".

"Having explored all our currently available options, we now have more work to do to see whether and if so how, we can still meet the urgent need for a new specialist children's home in Hampshire.

"We will absolutely still find somewhere, where we can deliver that children's and support those children that are in desperate need of our help."

When the plans were announced last year, they sparked an angry response from teachers and parents who highlighted the benefits to children using the facility to learn about nature and wildlife.

In a bid to try and save the selected activity centre, Fareham Borough Council voted to make it an asset of community value.

Hundreds of people also joined a protest march from Lee-on-the-Solent last month in support of the centre.

Following the cabinet meeting, Lin Gell told the BBC that she was "amazed" at the outcome.

"I can't believe that we've done it, we've worked really, really hard trying to do this.

"Anybody that says they don't listen, they do - if you make enough noise and we are thrilled," she added.

Ms Gell also said she spoke to the staff at the Stubbington Study Centre following the decision.

"They're crying, they're so happy because they won't lose their jobs now either.

"My own grandson was not going to be able to go next year, he has messaged me saying, 'I am going to be able to go now Nana'."

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