MALVERN Outdoor Activity Centre has been saved from the axe after council chiefs signed over the lease to a private firm.

The West Malvern site, and two others at Upton Warren and in Llanrug in North Wales, are owned by Worcestershire County Council but have all consistently lost money for years.

They were all in danger of closure unless new operators were found, as we previously reported last year.

However, in a newly announced deal the site in Old Hollow, Malvern, will be run by Rock UK, which runs a dozen other similar ventures around the UK.

Between them the three centres are due to lose £337,000 this year, a gap which until now has been met by Worcestershire’s taxpayers.

Under the deal for the sites in Malvern and Upton Warren, Rock has pledged to retain all staff and take on the ongoing maintenance costs, as well as pay nominal lease fees.

The contract will start from April and the lease will run for 25 years.

The centre offers a range of outdoor play activities for school-age youngsters.

Speaking before a meeting of the cabinet, councillor Marcus Hart, the cabinet member for health, said: “We’ve been discussing this since I first came on this council in 2005 and it’s been a long journey.

“We are in difficult financial times, and while some other authorities have pulled the plug on areas like this, we are not doing that – on balance this is the best solution.”

Councillor John Campion, localism and communities cabinet member, said: “It’s not perfect, but it’s a damn sight better outcome than we would have had if we’d had taken an earlier decision for closure.”