Council to shut outdoor education centre
LDRSA council-owned outdoor education centre is to close because it is "no longer financially viable".
High Borrans Outdoor Education Centre in Windermere, Cumbria, which is owned by North Tyneside Council, will shut in November after the local authority said it needed £3m of investment.
Recent figures show the centre was used by 1,255 pupils from Years 5 to 8, out of a potential borough cohort of 9,300.
The council's director of children's services, Rebecca Wall, said the decision to close High Borrans was made after a "detailed review of its usage, costs and long-term sustainability".
"Like councils across the country, we are facing significant financial pressures," she said.
"The level of investment required to maintain and modernise the centre, alongside the ongoing subsidy needed to support each visit, means it is no longer financially viable."
High Borrans was built in the 1880s as a summer sporting lodge for the Durning-Holts - a wealthy Liverpool shipping family - and part of the original estate was sold to the now-defunct Tynemouth Borough Council in 1967.
In 2018, local school bosses were urged to continue funding High Borrans during a review of North Tyneside Council's school forum finances, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
At the time, the forum contributed £95,000 to subsidise school trips to the facility.
Contemporary figures showed without the subsidy, the average cost of a week-long school trip for a whole class could rise from £8,000 to £10,000.
