Consultation on re-purposing and closure of Stubbington Study Centre from 1 September 2025 to enable future investment in a specialist secure welfare children's home

Ends today

Introduction

There is an increasing need for residential care to support the most vulnerable children and young people both locally and nationally, and a unique opportunity has arisen for Hampshire County Council (the County Council) to access in the region of £60million of Department for Education funding from the Government to deliver a new modern, high-quality specialist secure welfare children’s home for vulnerable children and young people in Hampshire.

An assessment of potential sites has been carried out, which has determined that Stubbington Study Centre is the most viable location for the new home. However, using this site would mean that the outdoor learning activities currently provided at Stubbington Study Centre, including residential visits for schools and other groups, would need to cease.

This consultation is seeking views about the proposal to close Stubbington Study Centre, so that, subject to funding and planning permission, the site could be used for the new specialist children’s home. In particular, it aims to help assess any impacts of the proposed closure, to inform a decision by the County Council’s Cabinet in March 2025. You can share your views from Tuesday 14 January 2025 until 11:59pm on Monday 10 February 2025.

Proposed closure of Stubbington Study Centre

What is the current situation?

About Stubbington Study Centre

Stubbington Study Centre provides residential opportunities for schools and other groups (such as scouts and guides), as part of a range of services comprising:

  • Residential experiences - Overnight stays combined with outdoor activities for school groups in Year R to Year 6
  • Day visits - Exclusive use of the site and a bespoke programme of activities for Year R to Year 6 on Thursdays and Fridays during term time.
  • Youth and community groups - Organised groups, with an educational focus, can hire the site for self-catered weekend and non-term time use.
  • Day camps - Themed activity days for children in Years 3 to 6 in the school holidays, which can be booked by private individuals
  • Day meetings – A venue for training events or meetings.

In 2023/24 the Study Centre had 4,645 guests staying overnight and 1,948 day visitors, with around 95% of its capacity used over the school terms. The centre employs 24 staff.

Under education legislation, Hampshire County Council is not legally required to provide outdoor education at Stubbington Study Centre.

Further information about Stubbington Study Centre can be found on its website

Further information can be found in the question and answer documents at the bottom of this page.

About current specialist secure welfare children’s care for vulnerable children and young people in Hampshire.

The County Council currently provides specialist residential care for vulnerable children and young people from Hampshire and across the country at Swanwick Lodge, in Fareham.

Swanwick Lodge is the only home of its kind in Hampshire. It provides safe, secure and therapeutic residential care for up to 10 male and female children, aged between 10 and 17, who have complex needs and present a significant risk of harm to themselves or to others.

Specialist residential care of this nature helps the children to recover from difficult life experiences and provides the opportunity for them to build good, stable relationships and resettle in their communities where they can contribute and improve their life chances and outcomes.

There is a national shortage, and increasing level of demand, of specialist secure welfare accommodation for vulnerable children, and council-run facilities like Swanwick Lodge provide important care for children with the most complex vulnerabilities.

The care provided at Swanwick Lodge is currently rated as ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted. However, Swanwick Lodge requires significant investment to remain viable as a specialist children’s home in future.

Further information about Swanwick Lodge can be found on its website

What is being proposed?

Hampshire County Council is proposing to close Stubbington Study Centre, so that, subject to funding and planning permission, the site could be re-purposed to provide a new modern, high-quality specialist secure welfare children’s home for vulnerable children and young people.

Why is this being proposed?

There is an increasing need for specialist residential care to support the most vulnerable children and young people both locally and nationally.

Swanwick Lodge has been operating for almost 30 years, over which time the complex needs of the young people staying there have changed significantly. Extensive investment would be required to maintain it in a fit for purpose state, and a number of topographical issues make the required changes complex, including a stream running through the site. Rebuilding would require a split facility linked by connecting structures, which would not be suitable for the operational needs of the home. Updating the site would also likely require the temporary closure of Swanwick Lodge for around 2 years while work was undertaken, and alternative accommodation would need to be arranged during this period.

The Department for Education (DfE) needs to ensure a continued, sufficient, and affordable provision of secure places across the country. To do this, they would like to work with the County Council to replace Swanwick Lodge with a new purpose-built facility, which would provide 18 beds, as well as new ‘step down accommodation’ which helps children safely transition to less intensive support as a pathway to resettle in their community.

In the March 2024 Budget Statement, the Department for Education (DfE) set aside at least £60million to replace Swanwick Lodge. If the County Council can access this money, it will allow this investment to be made without cost or additional pressure to the County Council’s budget, while expanding the number of vitally needed specialist residential placements for vulnerable children available both locally and nationally. To secure the funding, the County Council is required to show it has secured a suitable and available location, with the required space to deliver the new home, by March 2025.

The County Council has undertaken a review of different sites in Hampshire where a specialist children’s home could be located, against the following criteria:

  • Suitability (the site’s shape and size, and how well a specialist children’s home could operate in the local community)
  • Deliverability (consideration of any planning constraints on the site)
  • Value (the potential other uses of the site if not used as a specialist children’s home)
  • Location (the accessibility of the site for staff and visitors)
  • Availability (looking at the site’s current use and any limitations on how the site could be used)

As a result of this review, it is proposed that the site of Stubbington Study Centre should be the option put forward to the Department for Education. However, the opening of a specialist children’s home on this site would require the closure of Stubbington Study Centre.

The County Council has a legal duty to provide suitable accommodation for some vulnerable children. This can include accommodating them in a specialist children’s home where it is most appropriate for their needs. The County Council does not have a legal duty to provide outdoor activities via Stubbington Study Centre. As such it is felt that closing Stubbington Study Centre would allow the County Council to maintain its legal duties while also delivering services in a cost-effective manner.

How would this be implemented?

If this proposal is agreed then the County Council would apply for the money set aside by the DfE to invest in a new specialist children’s home, with Stubbington put forward as the available site.

If the money is released, then a planning application would be made to build a specialist children’s home at Stubbington. The subsequent planning consultation would give local residents and other stakeholders an opportunity to share their thoughts on the new home. This would be anticipated in Summer 2026.

The proposal is that Stubbington Study Centre would close from 1 September 2025. This early closure is recommended to ensure the site availability required by the DfE in order to secure funding approval, and to minimise the risk of an increased financial burden on the County Council’s already strained budget, should the Study Centre become commercially unviable as a result of any decision to close.

What could be the impact of closing Stubbington Study Centre...

. . .on service users?

If Stubbington Study Centre closes, then schools, other organisations, and individuals would no longer be able to use the service after 1 September 2025. They would need to use other outdoor facilities for their activities.

There are currently over 100 other providers, used by Hampshire schools, that offer outdoor education opportunities. Over two thirds of these are either based in Hampshire or within a 50-mile radius.

Some groups and organisations use the space at Stubbington Study Centre for meetings. These users would also need to source alternative venues should the centre close.

. . .on staff?

There are currently 24 members of staff working at Stubbington Study Centre.

A decision to close would mean all centre staff would be in a potential compulsory redundancy situation, although support would be put in place to seek to mitigate the impact of the closure on staff through redeployment where possible.

The County Council would ensure consultation with staff and trade unions about workforce implications is undertaken at the appropriate time and in accordance with its policies and procedures and the law.

The County Council invites further views on the potential impacts of the proposed closure.

Options which are not being consulted on at this time

There are other approaches that we could take that are not proposed at this time. In developing this proposal, we have also considered the following:

Updating the specialist children’s home at Swanwick Lodge: As explained earlier in this document, extensive investment would be required to maintain Swanwick Lodge in a fit for purpose state, and a number of topographical issues make the required changes complex, including a stream running through the site, and the need to build new structures to maintain the security of the facility. This means that it would not be considered a suitable site for Government funding. In addition, updating the site would likely require the temporary closure of Swanwick Lodge for around 2 years while work was undertaken.

Building a new specialist children’s home at another location: The County Council considered a range of criteria (see above) to identify an appropriate site and concluded that the site at Stubbington is the most viable option.

Do nothing: The County Council could also choose to ‘do nothing’ and continue with services at Swanwick Lodge as they are, requiring no change to Stubbington Study Centre. However, this option is not preferred as it would mean no investment from Government in specialist children’s residential provision in Hampshire. Swanwick Lodge needs significant investment to remain safe and effective in the mid-term, and without this funding would therefore be in a period of managed decline and closure without a clear plan of investment in new provision.

Further information can be found in the question and answer documents at the bottom of this page.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading through this information.

You are invited to share your views to help assess the impacts of the proposed closure of Stubbington Study Centre. You can do this by using the online Response Form.

You can also email your response directly to Hampshire County Council using the email address [email protected] or write to Freepost HAMPSHIRE (Please also write PandO, IEU, FM09 on the back of the envelope).

You can view the Privacy Notice for this consultation, which explains how we will use your information, how this will be stored, and for how long we will keep it, within the Response Form or in the text below.

If you require a copy of the Information Packs or the Response Form in another language or format (such as paper, audio, large print, or Braille), or if you have any queries about the consultation, please email: [email protected], or call: 0300 555 1375 *

The consultation is open from Tuesday 14 January 2025 and closes at 11:59pm on Monday 10 February 2025. Please note that responses received after this date will not be included in the findings report.

*Calls from a landline will be charged at the local rate, although mobile phone charges may vary.

Privacy notice

Hampshire County Council is seeking your views, comments, and information about you in order to understand stakeholders' views on proposed changes to Stubbington Study Centre and understand any potential impacts it could have. This information is being collected for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest in the exercise of official authority vested in the County Council. Responses will be used to support decision making on a service change. All data will remain within the UK/EEA and will only be shared with third parties where they are undertaking data processing on behalf of Hampshire County Council. Personal information will be held securely for 2 years, after which it will be deleted or destroyed.

If you are responding in an official capacity, the name of your school, group, organisation, business or constituency may appear in the final report, and the information you provide may be subject to publication or release to other parties or to disclosure regimes such as the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

You have some legal rights in respect of the personal information we collect from you. Please see our Data Protection page for further details. You can contact the County Council’s Data Protection Officer at [email protected]. If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, you should raise your concern with us in the first instance or directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

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