There are fresh demands for more detailed information as to why and how the “magical” Stubbington Study Centre has been chosen for closure by Hampshire County Council.

Fareham Borough Council voted unanimously in its continued cross-party support to keep the Stubbington Study Centre open after the area’s ward Councillor Jacquie Needham (Con) presented her motion at Friday’s full council meeting.

She said she is opposed to the Hampshire County Council (HCC) plans to close the outdoor education centre to use the site as a secure specialist children’s home. Keeping the study centre open has garnered cross-party support, with petitions, letters and marches across the area, including Gosport Borough Council. 

A schoolchildren’s petition will soon be presented to HCC this week, said Councillor Pal Hayre (Con, Stubbington) before the meeting. 

Fareham Borough Council has agreed to write to HCC asking to reverse its decision to press ahead with the plans. She said: “Stubbington Study Centre is a unique outdoor activity site that has been enjoyed by thousands of children since 1935 all over Hampshire and the wider area.

“We understand that HCC has huge financial pressures due to adult social care and children’s services, but now devolution has been granted, surely saving this much-loved community asset can be the first good decision to come from it?”

In a letter to the county council on February 10, Fareham leader Councillor Simon Martin (Con, Park Gate) said there have not been answers about how or why the site was selected.

That was a statement echoed by many other councillors of the 15 who stood to speak.

Cllr Martin had said the county council owns lots of sites that could be used and would also be making 24 staff redundant at the centre by this action.

He said while there is no disagreement that a children’s home is needed, but urged HCC to consider the 100 other outdoor facilities in a 50-mile radius. 

Cllr Martin said the study centre had 4,645 guests staying overnight last year and 1,948 day visitors – meaning it was about 95 per cent full.  

Councillor Kay Mandry (Con, Hill Head) said the decision was not welcome nor transparent, and no alternative sites had been explored.

Councillor Friar Burgess (Con, Hook-with-Warsash), whose own children had been there, said it’s the first opportunity some children ever experience a night away from home.

Councillor Furnival (Lab, Fort Fareham) said it is a “magical place”, while Cllr Andrew Murphy (Con, Titchfield Common) said it is the first wildlife experience for most children.

HCC is set to decide the fate of the centre, which offers teambuilding, physical and environmental awareness activities, at a meeting on March 6.