Hampshire County Council proposes closing beloved Stubbington Study Centre in Fareham to make way for specialist children’s home

Hampshire County Council is proposing to build a new specialist secure welfare children’s home on the site of its Stubbington Study Centre.

However, to make way for the new proposed home, the outdoor learning activities currently provided at the centre in Fareham – which includes residential visits for North Hampshire schools – would have to cease.

After announcing the proposal on January 14, the county council invited schools, other organisations and individuals to share their feedback on the plans, with a view to ceasing current activity at the venue from September.

To receive government funding for a new specialist children’s home, the council has to show it can provide a suitable and available location, with the required space, to deliver the new home, and it has now identified the Stubbington site as the most appropriate.

The council has said that the new home is required as its only existing one is nearly 30 years old, has out-of-date facilities and can only accommodate 10 vulnerable children.

The new modern and high-quality home would nearly double the capacity to 18 in order “to help meet the increasing need for residential care to support the most vulnerable children and young people both locally and nationally”.

In retaliation to the plans, a petition to save the study centre gained nearly 5,000 signatures just two days after it was launched on January 15.

Laura Jane Mcvinnie, who started the petition, said: “This institution, a rite of passage for all school-aged children in Hampshire, is facing unjust closure.

“But Stubbington is more than just a place. It is a tradition and a vital part of childhood that has shaped thousands of lives over its many years of operation.”