SOUTH CERNEY’s Outdoor Education Centre looks certain to close with the loss of 25 jobs after Gloucestershire County Council's cabinet approved plans to shut it down.

The centre, based on Lake 12, Spine Road, will most likely close by the end of the summer as part of county council plans to save £108million from its budget over the next four years.

It costs GCC £200,000 a year to run the centre.

All 25 staff employed at the centre will lose their jobs. Full council is expected to ratify the decision at its meeting on February 16.

Temporary staff will leave the centre by the end of March and full-time staff will leave at the end of August, when the centre shuts.

Fears now exist over the future of the site.

Esmond Jenkins, Cotswold District Councillor for the Water Park said: "One would hope that any disposal of this public asset will be in accordance with the legal requirements and at market value."

David Mellor, chairman of Thameswey Canoe Club (TCC), based at the centre, said years of public spending on the centre had been wasted.

The club has been in constant contact with both the education centre and the county council.

"This is a resource valuable to the whole community," club secretary Sian Smith told the Standard. "It is a tragedy to Gloucestershire that it will be sold off.

"I feel sorry for the staff, they do so much good work at the centre to support vulnerable children and adults."

TCC along with other societies including sailing and windsurfing clubs will be forced to find another facility once the centre closes.

Mike Stuart, chairman of South Cerney parish council said he was concerned about how the site would be sold.

"We can only hope that this is marketed correctly. It needs to be properly tendered and put on the open market for public auction."

A spokesman for the council said no decision had yet been made on selling the site to private companies.

"The consultation process is ongoing and we are currently in discussions with a range of partners, which will help inform our decisions going forward," said the spokesman.

"Outdoor and environmental services are important, but schools and other providers already provide a wide range of these activities and in many cases are better placed to deliver them than we are."