School trip centre faces axe as cuts bite

Senior councillors in Wakefield will next week considering the future of Wakefield’s Outdoor Residential Centre in Hornsea, which has been used by local schools for residential trips for many years.

The council’s financial circumstances, created by the reduction in Government grants and the ending of a subsidy by Wakefield Schools Forum, mean the centre is running at a loss.

The issue will be discussed at a meeting of the authority’s cabinet committee next week.

Recent public talks with schools, users and interested groups identified several options for the future of the centre including a partnership arrangement with an interested group, selling off the centre or closure.

Members of the council’s Cabinet will be asked to consider two recommendations when they meet on Tuesday giving identified groups the opportunity to come up with plans to take over the residential centre by the end of September and then, if none of these are viable, to close the centre from October.

The number of Wakefield schools using the centre has declined in recent years and the cost to upgrade the building is estimated at between £800,000 and £1.5m.

Coun Olivia Rowley, Cabinet member for children and young people, said: “I appreciate that Hornsea is a very valued resource which has been enjoyed by generations of Wakefield school children for many years.

“Unfortunately things have changed over those years and the grant which was subsidising Hornsea has been cut.

“The centre needs a lot of money spending on it and the council is faced with saving £67m from our budgets over the next four years.

“We face a very difficult decision if those groups suggesting alternatives do not materialise,” Coun Rowley added.