Hengistbury Head Outdoors celebrates as it gets £680,000 government grant and 99-year lease from BCP Council to transform former Marine Training Centre

nell.lazzeri@advertiserandtimes.co.uk

Published: 03:00, 26 February 2025

| Updated: 15:48, 26 February 2025

A GROUP formed to save the outdoor activity centre at Hengistbury Head is celebrating after signing a 99-year-lease on the building with BCP Council.

Hengistbury Head Outdoors (HHO) is a community benefit society, set up in 2023, which is aiming to restore the former Marine Training Centre to its former glory.

This lease effectively transfers the ownership of the centre to the group as a community asset.

HHO says it believes this may be the first formal community asset transfer of an activity centre to a community benefit society completed by BCP Council.

The group is also set for a Community Ownership Fund grant of £680,000 from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (DCLG), to be used for the refurbishment and repair of the centre.

It is subject to certain conditions being met and around £150,000 being raised in match funding by the society. HHO is seeking donations from the community, local business and grant providers to raise the money.

Hengistbury Head Outdoor Activity Centre is set to be revived after a 99-year lease was signed between the community group Hengistbury Head Outdoors (HHO) and BCP Council. From left: Councillor Bernadette Nanovo, ward councillor; Neil Woods, director HHO; Dan Stone, lead council officer; Councillor Mike Cox, deputy leader, and portfolio holder for finance; Mark Merritt, director HHO; 'Bill Howlett', director HHO; Sam Arnold, director HHO; Max Tome, director HHO

As a result of the cash boost and the transfer of the lease, HHO hopes to be able to start refurbishment work “as soon as practicable”.

The group says it is committed to “take over and to sympathetically rejuvenate the site at the former Hengistbury Head Outdoor Education Centre, creating a sustainable, innovative yet tranquil space for all to participate in all forms of outdoor activity, provided by our volunteers and in partnership with professional bodies and organisations”.

Built in 1964, the Marine Training Centre changed its name in the 1980s to Hengistbury Head Outdoor Education Centre.

Hengistbury Head Outdoors plan to restore the former Marine Training Centre to its former glory

In its last full year of operation in 2019, around 75 schools used the centre, which provided more than 10,000 sessions for them and more than 5,000 public sessions.

In 2021, BCP took back direct ownership of the centre and following a survey, the main building was deemed unsafe for public use and closed.

To find out more about HHO, visit hengistbury.org

Charity Christchurch Antonella Lazzeri