HUNDREDS of users of a charity which has been supporting vulnerable families in Basingstoke for nearly a decade face losing the provision because Hampshire County Council (HCC) is evicting them from the building.

Popley Spotlight Centre will be forced out of the former Chineham Park Primary School building in April - the same month it is due to mark its 10 year anniversary.

The council wants to use the building, in Shakespeare Road, Popley, for a special school, and last week approved plans to open Austen Academy on the site, offering 125 place for four to 16-year-olds on the autistic spectrum, as part of its plan to manage the demand for additional Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) school places.

The school is set to open in April 2021 by Catch 22 Multi Academies Trust, funded by the Department for Education

But the decision is set to leave hundreds of families without vital support offered by Popley Spotlight Centre, including a food and clothes bank, one-to-one youth mentoring and after school clubs.

Popley Spotlight Centre also offers a varied programme of affordable performing arts activities.

Michaela Riley, who founded the charity, said: “When we first moved in we knew we were going to be babysitting the building for three to five years and we have been there for nearly nine and it’s like a home to so many people.

“We knew we would have to leave eventually. From our point of view we have 500 spaces taken up in activities every week, we provide one-to-one youth mentoring for vulnerable children and we have got a food bank, clothes bank and toy bank, it’s home to so many different things. We are trying to find a new home to keep it all together.”

The charity works with families on child protection, children affected by domestic abuse, young carers, children in care and young people with mental health issues, receiving referrals from schools, social workers, health visitors and other professionals.

It currently provides low cost performing arts activities to 355 children a week and looks after more than 200 children in its after school club, a quarter of which are funded spaces for children in need of respite.

Michaela said she has found a potential new location based in an empty warehouse in Chineham Business Park, but she needs to find a £10k deposit, and it would mean leaving the Popley area.

The alternative would be to split the service up and run it from different areas, with options including running some of the provision from the Sycamore Centre in Winklebury.

But Michaela said this would result in losing the holistic approach it currently offers, adding: “Popley Spotlight has become a hub so you find a parent might come in for performing arts for their child and be struggling at home and go to the charity shop then get provided with food, family support or mentoring. It’s a whole package we are offering.

“With the food bank they can use it without anyone realising, because they could be coming in for something else.

“A lot of the children we work with have mental health issues and struggle at home. Children come in four or five days a week and treat it as a second home. We could potentially lose that.”

Although Michaela said she is “sad” about the situation, she doesn’t blame HCC, and said it had supported her in finding an alternative premises.

She added: “For me it’s making sure that the families we work with are supported. It might be in a different form to what we know but we will do what we can to keep the provision going.

“I think that’s important to cater for Popley because of the depravation. We look after children from all over Basingstoke but we do have a lot of referrals from the three Popley schools, especially in the after school club.”

Councillor Stephen Reid, HCC’s executive member for education and skills, human resources and performance, said: “In the past four years the number of children in Hampshire with an Education Health Care Plan has risen from 5,500 to well over 8,000. While we are helping mainstream schools to make sure they are equipped to support children with special educational needs, there are many children whose needs are more complex and are better met in dedicated specialist provision.

“We are investing to increase our special school capacity and as part of that investment, we will be delivering a new special school, on the Chineham Park site in Popley, in place of the county council’s existing building.

“We first spoke to the charity more than two years ago about our plans, and last April provided them with 12 months’ notice. We continue to support them, where we can, to find alternative accommodation, and are hopeful that they will be able to find suitable premises by the spring so that their valued work in the area can continue.”