Children’s holiday centre faces closure
Friday 28th May 2010, 11:30AM BST.
A holiday centre that has been used by Walsall schoolchildren since the 1960s was today facing closure after a controversial plan to axe its council funding was recommended for approval.
Funding is to be withdrawn from the Bryntysilio in Wales by Walsall Council which is the main user of the centre.
Walsall Council has been using the Bryntysilio since 1966 but will cease provision of the centre in Llangollen, North Wales, from next year.
The future of the site, which employs around 20 staff, has been under discussion for more than nine months.
It is owned by the Bryntysilio Camp Trust and is leased by Walsall Council and costs around £500,000 a year to operate.
In 2009, Walsall Council’s Community Services Scrutiny and Performance Panel appointed a working group to review the provision of service at Bryntysilio and recommended that the council continue to use the centre under a revised format.
The group put forward 23 recommendations including moving school visits from a seven-day operation to a five-day operation to reflect residential outdoor education activities elsewhere, to manage costs and increase the capacity to accommodate up to two school visits at a time to increase income.
Despite working to achieve a reduction in costs by £70,000, demand from schools for the expanded service has been much lower than had been initially indicated, according to council chiefs.
Councillor Anthony Harris, cabinet member for leisure and culture said:
“Sadly, we have not been able to attract new schools to make use of Bryntysilio, which was our main goal.
“More school visits means greater income and this has not been achieved.
“It costs the council taxpayer around half a million pounds to keep it running and for every child who visits Bryntysilio, it costs the council a subsidy of £364.
“It’s past its sell by date and we know there are other centres more local to Walsall, as well as elsewhere nationally, that we could use where more schoolchildren can visit at a much lower cost.
“No decision has been made yet on the timing of the closure but we will honour the school bookings already made for 2010 and the early part of 2011.”
Executive trustee on the Bryntysilio Trust councillor Graham Wilkes said: “There cannot be an increase because it is full, the numbers are the highest they have ever been.
“The council has not spent any more on it in 18 months and the place is falling to bits.”
The decision to axe cash is expected to be approved by Walsall Council’s Cabinet on June 9.
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costs the council a subsidy of £364
No it costs those who pay their council tax not the Council. Therefore why not put it to the public vote.
These are not subsidised services they are PUBLIC SERVICES
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I have a strong link with the centre and am myself an educational professional. Please read my views: The timescale that the centre have been given is just not fair(nor is releasing dire information about it just before a school holiday-that has happened twice now-very underhand of the council if you ask me). Everybody knows how well Brntysilio is progressing but they can’t turn things round so quickly-no one could achieve what they have been told to do in such a short time-maybe the council didn’t really listen to the hundreds of comments on facebook last time and the extra time given to the centre was all a pretence. It will be a distaster to close one of the country’s best Outdoor Education Centres-think of Every Child Matters and The New Primary Curriculum for a start. Other provision in Staffordshire just isn’t the same high quality and not in such a fantastic,special setting. The children of Walsall will loose out-BIG TIME. Why can’t the council make their cuts somewhere else and give this superb place a realistic chance? £500,000 doesn’t seem so bad when you consider the benefit this centre gives….and think of the waste there is in other areas of council spending. Once its gone its gone. By the way I happen to know that the centre has NEVER marketed itself as a holiday camp-that is PURELY the newspaper. Bryntysilio is all about EDUCATION and making young people’s lives BETTER FOR THE FUTURE. Also someone needs to see their up to date brochures/website and marketing dvd. NO WAY IS IT PAST ITS SELL BY DATE-HAS THE GUY WHO WROTE THAT EVER VISITED IT? IS HE AN AUTHORITY ON OUTDOOR EDUCATION? I THINK NOT.
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E.A. Your comments are spot on. The timescale is unrealistic. I too have a strong link with the centre and all the staff there have been working extremely hard and have successfully raised the number of children visiting the Centre and indeed we are fully booked for next year. This is a scandalous decision by the Council and I do hope they will rethink this disatrous decision. I am luckily enough to live locally to Brynty and enjoy the wonderful setting of Llangollen on a daily basis. The experience the children have at the Centre, in my opinion, is just amazing. We receive letters from the children saying what a brilliant time they have had.
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Power to Brynti….
This continues to be a scandalous decision in the greater picture of things. The children and young people of Walsall clamber to go Brynti and £500k p.a. is wasted all over the town particluarly in office accomodation which could be better managed with finances saved supporting Brynti! All I say here is Tameway Tower, waste, waste, waste!
The whole issue of the pleasure this brings children is about where it is Councillor Harris, yes, there are more local places but they can’t offer the same experiences and don’t children learn from such experiences?
Might I also suggest you remember the five outcomes of Every Child Matters, measure where Brynti contributes and go back to the financial drawing board!
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My daughter went to Brynti with her school last year, it would be criminal if these trips were to stop. They had a fantastic time and it was very good value for money unlike some of the school trips my children have been on. I pay my council tax and I would rather this service was kept than have Walsall council pay a bill of £241,100 for new mobile phones !
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I went there as a child, my family could not have afforded a holiday, and it was brilliant,then my children went in the 90′s and they said exactly the same,most of the families that I know whos kids went there where people who struggled finacially,or for different reasons where offered a place through social services,these are the children who will be affected the most its absolutley discusting that this should be even thought of as an option, the staff up there are fantastic and they will lose there jobs also, if they opened it up more Im sure people would pay to go there for weddings, parties as well as school trips I dont think any of the options have been tried and tested fully,I know with other school outings if you give enough time parents only have to find a fiver a week ,if they are fully booked till next year then the ball could start rollin now surely for parent deposits, letters should be sent to all schools and youth groups offering there service its too good to lose!
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I went here with school it was one of the best experiences I’ve had in my life so far.
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The problem is marketing, even the E&S call Bryntysilio a ‘holiday Centre’ – sounds like Butlins when actually it is a field centre, ‘outward bound’ ,life skills, team building, Climbing up hills (for the first time) social skills, adventurous training and a wonderful opportunity for children to learn to live together in a rural context miles away from the urban jungle of Walsall. For many kids it is the first oportunity they have of leaving their family and seeing the real countryside. Walsall Council should be ashamed of even thinking of closing it down they should stop spending money on stupid ideas (the latest being the ‘new’ road system in the town centre) and fighrt tooth and nail to protect this jewell in the otherwise tarnished crown of Walsall’s mediocrity.
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Council – subsidise and be proud – Stand up and say ‘This is what we do for our children in Walsall’
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I went with Sneyd in the early 80s and had a fantastic time it is such a shame
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