North Tyneside Council is preparing to sell its outdoor education centre, High Borrans, with just under four weeks to go before its closure. The local authority’s Cumbria-based centre is scheduled to be permanently closed by November 30 this year.
Since the council’s decision was reported in July, both political and public outcry has been consistent, with campaigners and councillors urging the local authority to reverse or pause the decision.
What is High Borrans?
High Borrans Outdoor Education Centre in Windermere came into the council’s possession in 1967, when the council purchased the property from Lady Dorothy Somervell. The building itself was constructed back in the 1880s as a sporting lodge for the wealthy Liverpool shipping family, the Durning-Holts.
Since it was bought, High Borrans has been used as an outdoor centre for children from North Tyneside and further afield, offering opportunities for kayaking, hiking, caving, rock climbing, abseiling, and orienteering.
Why does the council want to close it?
After almost 70 years of use, North Tyneside Council’s cabinet took the decision to close the centre, citing a £3m maintenance bill and a decline in school trips and unviable subsidies to keep it going. According to council figures, the local authority subsidises the facility by around £165 per child, including £62,000 a year for out-of-borough pupils.
Additional figures show that, out of a potential cohort of 9,300 Year 5 to 8 pupils in North Tyneside, the site has been used by only 1,255 to date. In a full council meeting in July, the cabinet member for education, employability, and skills stated to campaigners and the public that cuts to frontline services would be required to keep the centre in-house.
What have campaigners asked for?
A petition calling for the council to reconsider its closure and to pause its plans for six months amassed over 2,000 signatures, triggering a protocol requiring a response from a meeting of full council. However, the council’s Labour majority voted to simply note the petition and not carry it any further forward.
At the meeting, held in September 2026, High Borrans campaigner Dan Dembry-Edwards said: “We therefore ask the council not to see this petition as a request to ignore financial realities, we are asking the council to recognise there is still an answer that has not been fully answered. What could High Borrans look like if we were given sixth months to properly find out?”
In late October, the Save High Borrans Campaign reached out to the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority, calling for “emergency” intervention to halt plans to close High Borrans. A spokesperson for NEMSA stated: “While this issue is outside the remit of the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority, the Mayor has been in touch with the council previously to ask them to look again at this issue on behalf of residents.”
What have the public said about it?
In July, the Local Democracy Reporting Service spoke to people in Whitley Bay about the council’s plans to close the facility, with the overwhelming result that the facility should remain open.
Arlene Borthwick, 64, of Whitley Bay, told the LDRS about her time at High Borrans as a child. Arlene said, “I went when I was a school kid, I really loved it.” “The kids around here are lucky that they can go to the beach, but I don’t know how often they get to the countryside with the economic challenges. We had a write about the day, and the teacher read mine out, and it had the kids in stitches. It was the first time I realised I had the capacity to deliver comedy.”
North Tyneside man Johnathan Robson, 38, said: “I think it is really short-sighted, they have got an infrastructure in place that they could maintain, building a new one is never going to open.” Johnathan added, “Relatively speaking, it’s accessible for the kids and schools. It is not a really expensive trip that people can’t afford; it makes it more accessible for the kids in the community.”
Geoff Carr, 63, from Blyth, said: “We go to the Lakes two-three-four times a year, anything like that they should keep open, for my money it should be kept open.” “It’s good for the kids.”
Where are we now?
In response to an update, Director of Place and Economy Peter Mennell said: “We are currently undertaking preparatory work ahead of the sale of High Borrans, including putting appropriate security measures in place to protect the site. The property will be marketed by a specialist agent and brought to market using established industry practices for assets of this type.”
