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Over 3,000 people have signed a petition against an East London council’s plan to sell off a ‘valuable’ campsite and conference centre in Essex.
Newham Council is planning to offload Debden House Centre, a 50-acre site located on the edge of Epping Forest, as part of wider plans to find £70million in savings.
Statutory Deputy Mayor Sarah Ruiz said the main users of the site are not from Newham or from schools in the borough, and that it would need "substantial investment" to continue running.
However, petition-starter Stuart Walker is urging the council not to sell off the site, saying the campsite is essential for the next generation of the borough's young people.
Mr Walker, a local advocate for getting children outdoors, said the site has provided opportunities for thousands of young Newham residents and selling it would be a "quick fix" for the council’s financial issues.
He told the Citizen: “If young people are not using it, that is entirely the responsibility of Newham’s mismanagement as a provision. It’s Newham’s problem and they need to sort it out.
"The young people of Newham need it and it must be maintained for them, and this is a quick fix to a long-term financial problem – flogging off Debden Campsite is something that can only be done once.”
At time of writing (10 January), Mr Walker’s change.org petition had been signed by 3,451 people and has since received dozens of comments from people who don’t want the site to go.
One person wrote: “Young people in urban areas face many inequalities as it is, taking away their connection and access to land and the rest of nature would be an injustice and be a failing of protecting the mental health of young people.”
Another said: “Debden Campsite is a vital resource for all Newham residents and holds person significance for me also, many childhood memories were made there.”
A third person added: “It’s such a valuable resource and gives people opportunities they otherwise would never get.”
The site consists of Debden House, a 19th-century, Grade II-listed building which is now used as a conference centre, as well as several fields where there is space for more than 300 camping pitches.
In 1946, East Ham Borough (now Newham Council) bought the land next to Debden House after looking for a residential education centre, and a year later bought Debden House – the residential adult education centre officially opened on 25 February, 1949.
During a meeting on 5 November last year, Newham's cabinet members agreed to the sale of the site, which will be put on the market in early spring 2025 with an aim for it to be sold towards the end of the summer.
The council has said this will allow for "current activities to be wound down in a managed way" and a formal consultation with the 11 staff who work mostly part-time.
The Town Hall said it would make £200,000 in "immediate savings" from operation costs, which doesn’t include the final sale price of the site.
Cllr Ruiz said: “In light of the current financial pressures on the council, and the need to focus resources on delivering key services to our residents, it is both prudent and necessary to review our position on Debden. While it has served us well, its continued operation is not sustainable without substantial investment.”
She added: “Furthermore, it is clear that the primary users of the Debden site are not Newham residents or schools, which diminishes the direct benefits to our borough. The proposed sale offers an opportunity to realise a significant capital receipt, which will be used to reduce the council’s debt and safeguard essential services.”
Cllr Ruiz said Newham’s children and young people still have access to Fairplay House, an outdoor education centre in Essex.
The council has predicted a budget gap of £175m over the next three years, saying £100m of that is down to soaring temporary accommodation costs.
Newham has the highest number of households in temporary accommodation in the entire country.
