WORCESTER MP Mike Foster has called for an urgent rethink into county council proposals to withdraw funding from outdoor education centres.

He wants schoolchildren and their parents to "flood County Hall with letters of protest" to try and persuade it to do a U-turn.

As the Worcester News reported last month, funding is set to be withdrawn from the centres at Malvern, Upton Warren and Llanrung, Snowdonia.

The authority owns and operates the Llanrung centre to provide a range of adventurous activities and educational opportunities. Because of the testing mountainous terrain it is used mostly by secondary school pupils and A-level students.

Worcestershire County Council is going through a funding crisis and needs to cut £8m from its budget over the next financial year to balance its books.

It needs to save a total of £18m over the next three years after recieving less Government funding than it hoped for.

Mr Foster said a withdrawal of funding for the education centres could force them to close.

He said: "To close down the centres will deprive thousands of children these opportunities and the county council should do all in its powers to keep the centres open.

"I know they will claim lack of funding - they always do - but they decided to spend a fortune barricading their car park and refurbishing their offices, so the money is there.

"I urge every pupil, every parent, every teacher and governor to make a stand and write to their local county councillor telling them not to close down these valuable centres of learning.

"Once gone, they will never be replaced."

He also said the county council "had a duty" to listen to local headteachers and continue to invest in the schemes.

Up to 50 jobs will be lost if the centres, which cost around £750,000 per year to run, are forced to close.

Each one has been told it has until December to put forward a business plan to show how it can be run at no cost to Worcestershire County Council.

The official position is that each one is under review' - and that the centres at Malvern and Llanrung could close if external funding is not found.

County council cabinet member for finance Coun Adrian Hardman said: "Unfortunately, when we get such a flawed settlement from Government, we have to face difficult decisions like this.

"The question we have to ask ourselves is, can we afford three outdoor education centres? The answer is probably no.

"The one at Malvern needs £1.7m spending on it to upgrade it. In an ideal world, we'd hope the solution would be that the private sector help us out and invest in them, but all we have is a deafening silence at the moment."