A RESPITE centre that provides overnight care for children and young people with disabilities will permanently close, if council proposals are backed. 

The Firvale Residential Respite Unit next to Basingstoke hospital has been earmarked for closure by Hampshire County Council following a consultation earlier this year in a bid to save £450,000 towards cuts to its Children’s Services budget totalling £21m.

It has been temporarily closed since the start of the Covid pandemic in March 2020, but the council says it cannot afford the £400,000 improvements, to ensure it remains safe and fit for purpose. This is in addition to the annual cost of operating the service, which amounts to £900,000.

SEE ALSO: Community comes together to open new library after facility was closed by council

The proposal has angered Popley mother Lauren Freitas, whose six-year-old son Cohen has a rare genetic condition.

Her son, who needs constant care and is up frequently at night with pain, currently accesses the medical part of Firvale run by Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT).

Read the full story in this week's Gazette.

Also inside:

  • The public is being asked for its views on plans to build a new primary school in Basingstoke
  • Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has decided to end an agreement with a major developer for the £500m regeneration of Basing View
  • A nurse from Odiham near Basingstoke has been fired by her company for saying on television that ‘Tory voters don’t deserve to be resuscitated’, according to a national newspaper
  • Demolition of a Basingstoke building which used to be the headquarters of the AA has begun
  • Basingstoke residents have been left distressed after being unable to cook or wash their clothes since workers laid down their tools and left their kitchens incomplete
  • A Basingstoke Conservative borough councillor reportedly berated MP Michael Gove at the party’s conference, accusing him of making “unsettling comments”
  • Food delivery drivers went on strike over the weekend, with a large presence fighting for fairer pay due to the cost of living crisis
  • An environmental campaigner has pleaded with the borough council to make sure new houses built as part of Manydown do not have an impact on climate change
  • The owners of a multi-award-winning pub in Herriard have applied to convert the tavern into a house after ‘unprecedented difficulties’
  • PLUS: All the latest from Basingstoke Magistrates' Court.
  • Two pages of your letters to the editor.
  • Pictures: adorable first-class school photos 
  • Two pages of news from our communities
  • An eight-page puzzle special
  • Two pages of business news
  • Three pages of entertainment news
  • two pages of sports news. And much more!

READ MORE: Basingstoke pub wins Tripadvisor 2022 Travellers' Choice award

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