The city council (SCC) has confirmed the sale of the Woodmill Activity Centre to Southern Water and Southampton City Scouts.
Photo: SCC

 

As previously reported, the freehold of the activity centre will be split between Southampton City Scouts and Southern Water, with the scouts taking ownership of the main activity area, the pond, Stoneham Lodge, and activity equipment.

The decision to sell the site for an undisclosed sum was approved at SCC’s July 15 cabinet meeting and had prompted concerns about “secrecy” and a “lack of public consultation”.

Speaking before the meeting on the Civic Centre steps, Friends of the Itchen Estuary’s Gavin Millar, pictured above, claimed it was for a “knock-down price” and said he thought its “true value was several millions”.

The next day, full council passed a separate cross-party motion [full text] urging the cabinet to work with local communities and stakeholders on implementing ‘Rights of Rivers’ in Southampton’s rivers and estuaries.

The council said in a statement this week (July 29) that the decision for the scouts to take over the Woodmill activity centre “will help grow and develop the community and leisure offer for the city while ensuring ongoing sustainable management.”

“Southampton City Scouts will be the lead operator and are passionate about the Woodmill site and the different activities and benefits the site brings to the city,” it continued.

“Their ambition is to transform the centre into Southampton’s first youth campsite, only non-profit activity centre, and a UK leading provider of youth water activities.”

SCC said that Southern Water will own and care for the areas central to their environmental mission, including the riverbanks, sluices, salmon pool and wetlands, with their work focusing on conservation, habitat restoration, and “the transformation of the wetlands into a thriving nature reserve”.

“By working with environmental charities and regional partners on floodplain and river restoration projects, wet woodland projects, pond creation, hedgerow planting and education projects, Southern Water will protect and enhance these precious habitats and allow nature to thrive alongside our communities,” said the council.

Cllr Simon Letts, cabinet member for finance and resources said the scouts “will invest significantly in the site, and with their partner organisations, they are well-placed to secure major grants to deliver much needed capital investment into [the] unique activity centre.”

Cllr Toqeer Kataria, cabinet member for leisure and people, pictured above, said that Southern Water “plan to make long-term investments to improve the health of the chalk streams of the River Test and Itchen, whilst improving the riverbanks and making the channels more natural in shape and function”.