'Save Study Centre' campaign gets a boost

Campaigners have won an important first round in the battle to save Stubbington Study Centre from closure.

A Select Committee of Hampshire County Council urged the Council's Cabinet to ask the Government for more time to search for a new site for a Secure Children's Home, rather than close the Study Centre to make way for it.

Lib Dem County Councillors Keith House and Prad Bains spoke up for the Centre, with Prad seconding one of the amendments to the proposal - and encouragingly, Tory councillors did too, asking their own party leadership to think again. 

The committee's verdict, which was carried unanimously: 

This Committee does not support the recommendation.

• It asks the Chairman to write to cabinet to make the following points. 
   *Commend Officers for their hard work on identifying sites, emphasises the committee recognises the challenges of identifying any alternative sites within the time frame and the criteria prescribed by Government
   *Recognise the pressing need for a secure children's home to support
 Hampshire's most vulnerable children
   *Recommends Cabinet ask officers to review any additional sites which may become available as a consequence of recent or upcoming decisions
   *Recommends Cabinet ask officers to approach district and borough council to see if they have any land holding which may offer a suitable site
   *Recommends Cabinet request an extension of time from Department of Education to enable consideration of any alternative site
  *To ask officers to work with the study centre on a long term business plan.

Fareham Lib Dem councillors Kirsten and Dave Wiltshire also attended the meeting, which heard local schoolchildren deliver powerful testimonies on how the centre transforms lives, particularly for Special Educational Needs (SEN) students, neurodiverse children, and those in care. They emphasised that the centre provides learning experiences that cannot be replicated in traditional educational settings.

Kirsten Wiltshire said: "The fight is far from over. We urge Hampshire County Council’s Cabinet to act on the committee’s recommendations and commit to a future where Stubbington Study Centre continues to serve generations of children."

* See our earlier story for background on the Study Centre.