Bid to save study centre backed by committee

A campaign to save a study centre has been offered a lifeline after a county council committee backed an amendment to keep it open.

Stubbington Study Centre, near Fareham, Hampshire, opened in 1935 and more than 4,000 pupils have residential visits there each year.

A committee went against officers' recommendations to replace the much-loved outdoor activity centre with a children's home.

Cabinet will make the final decision on 18 March and could still decide to close the facility.

At a meeting of Hampshire 2050 corporate services and resources select committee, an amendment from councillor Graham Burgess urged councillors not to support the officers' recommendation to close the centre.

Instead, the committee will ask decision-making cabinet members to get officers to review alternative sites, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

It was also recommended officers approach district and borough councils to see if they have any suitable land, and request a time extension from the Department of Education (DfE) so funding does not lapse.

After hearing representations from schoolchildren, teachers and residents, councillor Keith House said: "I think we shouldn't be sitting here this afternoon, with all the pain and anguish we put these residents and young people through, because all could be avoided."

More than 20,000 people signed a petition against the closure and, in February, hundreds of people joined a protest march from Lee-on-the-Solent.

Hill Head Residents' Association (HHRA) has also applied to Fareham Borough Council for the centre to become an asset of community value.

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