The recommendations for the future of the Study Centre site are to be scrutinised by cross-party County Councillors at the Hampshire 2050 Select Committee on Thursday, 6 March. As part of this, Members will consider responses to the recent public consultation which ran from Tuesday, 14 January until Monday, 10 February, and which demonstrated that the Study Centre is a much valued and popular facility. Following this, the recommendations will then be considered by the Local Authority’s Cabinet which will make a final decision on Tuesday, 18 March.
If agreed, the new children’s home would replace and expand the County Council’s existing and only specialist home at Swanwick Lodge, which currently provides a safe and secure, therapeutic environment for up to 10 of the most vulnerable children from Hampshire and across the country. The home does not provide criminal justice placements for young people in custody but offers very specialist care and support for children who have experienced significant trauma and abuse. Both locally and nationally, there is rising demand for this kind of care and a shortage of suitable placements, with only 13 such specialist homes in the country.
At almost 30 years old, the building at Swanwick Lodge would require significant capital investment to bring it up to the highest modern standards which meet the increasingly complex needs of the children typically placed there. Without this investment, the home may not be able to operate effectively in future, requiring children to move much further away from their homes and families to access suitable support, and at significantly greater cost.
The Government has indicated that it would provide capital funding to replace Swanwick Lodge with a modern and high-quality home, representing a once in a generation opportunity for investment in the County Council’s social care estate - and in the future of the most vulnerable children in its care. This Government funding is subject to the County Council's confirmation by the end of March 2025 that a suitable site is available and cannot be used for the purchase of any new land.
The County Council has undertaken a thorough and robust review of potential sites owned by the Local Authority, including the existing Swanwick Lodge site. Having followed the Government’s requirements and relevant criteria, the Local Authority has identified the Stubbington Study Centre site as the most appropriate to deliver the new home, subject to confirmation of funding and planning consent.
To make way for a new specialist children’s home on the Study Centre site, the activities currently provided there would need to cease from 31 August 2025. The County Council’s recent consultation on the centre’s proposed closure established that the provision delivered at Stubbington is highly valued by residents and communities, particularly for its education-based approach to the outdoor experiences it offers.
If the decision is taken to close the centre, the County Council would boost this type of education-based offer at its other outdoor sites*, while at the same time delivering a much-needed specialist children’s home at Stubbington.
For full details of the proposals due to be discussed at the Hampshire 2050 Select Committee on Thursday, 6 March, visit the County Council’s website. This Select Committee meeting is due to be broadcast live on YouTube, and a link to view the meeting will be made available on the County Council’s website ahead of the meeting.
* The County Council’s other outdoor sites include a second Study Centre at Minstead, five country parks, two farms, Titchfield Haven, Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Basingstoke Canal, and four Outdoor Centres at Calshot, Tile Barn in Brockenhurst, Runway’s End in Aldershot and Argoed Lwyd in South Wales.