Children's trauma centre could move to school site

The future home of a "vital" children's specialist secure welfare centre is set to be discussed by councillors.

Hampshire County Council will be debating whether to use Henry Cort Community College in Fareham for the new home.

It comes after the authority agreed to move the college to a new site about five miles (8km) away, to allow space for more student places.

Councillors will discuss whether the college site would be viable for the specialist children's home, instead of the current "ageing" site used for services in Swanwick Lodge.

The lodge provides a "safe and secure, therapeutic environment" to 10 of the most vulnerable children from Hampshire and across the country, a council statement explained.

The Henry Cort site would be available after September 2027, the council added, when staff and pupils move to a new site in Whiteley.

If councillors agree it should be used for the specialist children's home, it would then be recommended to the Department for Education (DfE) - which has proposed funding for a new and larger specialist centre in an existing site.

County council leader, Nick Adams-King, said: "To continue to meet demand and the increasingly complex needs of our most vulnerable children, it is clear that we now need a new and larger specialist children's home offering the very best, modern facilities.

"Without this, children in our care in the future may need to move much further away from their homes and families to access suitable support, and at significantly greater cost."

Swanwick Lodge is one of 14 centres in the country offering specialist care to children who have experienced significant trauma and abuse.

If the DfE approves using Henry Cort as the new home for these services by the end of 2025, a planning consultation would then be started by the local council.

Work to deliver the new home, if planning consent is then granted, would not be expected to start until 2028.

Adams-King added the potential government investment "represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for our social care estate".

"I know from previous discussions with my fellow cabinet members that the need for a new specialist children's home is clearly understood and we will consider carefully the recommendations in relation to this proposed new asset when we meet."

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