Families slam council's plans to sell off outdoor education centre in Cornwall
Locals are banding together in a bid to save the Carnyorth site in St Just
Last updated 1st Jun 2022
A group of families have slammed plans by Cornwall Council to sell off an outdoor education centre, with fears it could see the facility closed and converted into housing.
Carnyorth Outdoor Education Centre in St Just is currently being marketed by the council for sale.
Earlier this year the council agreed to close Cornwall Outdoors, the organisation which runs outdoor education provision across Cornwall. The centres provide residential breaks for children to experience a variety of outdoor activities.
However the council said that the covid pandemic had resulted in a drop in income for the centres and that due to budgetary pressures would have to offload Cornwall Outdoors.
In making its decision the council said it would sell off any facilities and only committed to seek a new operator for Porthpean Outdoor Education Centre near St Austell.
Locals have now banded together in a bid to keep the centre open so that it can continue to provide outdoor education for children.
Under public questioning the council has said that whilst it is marketing the property for sale it would be willing to sell to any organisation which wants to keep operating it as an outdoor education centre.
But councillors and local people say they fear that the building, which was originally built as a school at the end of the 19th century, would be sold to the highest bidder which would be likely to convert it into housing.
They also say that there has been no consultation about the future of the centre and that decisions have been made without any input from the local community.
"I and many others are extremely upset"
Susannah Parsons, who lives opposite Carnyorth in St Just, said: "I live opposite the Outdoors centre and am always pleased to see the groups of children based there and going out on various adventures: rock climbing, mountain biking, bug hunting, hiking etc. As a mum of a 5-year old, I hoped my son might also have the opportunity to attend a centre like that when he is old enough.
"However, Carnyorth Outdoors Centre was being run by Cornwall Council, and they decided they didn't want to run it anymore. I am unsure why, but I know Carnyorth Outdoors Centre was being run at a profit. At any rate, the public wasn't asked if they wanted Cornwall Council to carry on running the centre… but there was a public consultation (which I took part in) on what should happen with it next. Options were basically to find someone else to continue running it or to sell up. The public voted overwhelmingly to find someone else to continue running it".
She added: “I and many others are extremely upset about this. This is likely to impact negatively on the mental health of our children for generations to come, and I doubt a proper cost benefit analysis has been completed to inform the decision".
Last week Susannah posed questions about the future of Carnyorth to Cornwall Council leader Linda Taylor at a Meet the Leader event in Penzance where campaigners held banners urging the council to save the centre.
In response Cllr Taylor said that the site would be marketed for a ten-week period for community use on an “offers invited” basis and said that this would give community groups the opportunity to draw up a bid to take on the centre.
She said that the town council and potential partners would also be invited to meet with the council to discuss all options before the site is marketed for other purposes.
Site identified as "surplus to requirements"
At last week's meeting of Cornwall Council, a number of councillors also asked questions of Barbara Ellenbroek, the Cabinet member for children's services, about the future of the centre.
She said that the site had been identified as being "surplus to requirements" and added: "The site will now in accordance with established process be marketed on a freehold basis but will, in the first instance, be marketed subject to its existing use. This approach provides the best opportunity to repurpose assets in order to support other council objectives, for example affordable housing, and freehold disposal helps remove risks, liabilities and costs around backlog maintenance and statutory compliance, particularly in respect of assets in poor condition".
Mebyon Kernow councillor Loveday Jenkin said at that meeting: "The cabinet decision that this building was surplus to requirement: I’ve seen no real evidence of any community consultation to that effect and she will know as well as I do that if it’s marketed on a freehold basis it will lose its community use.
"It is incredibly of value to west Cornwall and the young people of west Cornwall. Even Helston pupils have been there for outdoor education experiences, so it’s not just the local parish that it’s of importance to.
"The declaration of surplus to requirements and moving to a formal procurement process precludes any sort of community devolution ask".