A CHARITY co-founded by a former Haslemere resident is calling on Surrey County Council not to downgrade its proposals for a flagship new centre.

Peter Lawrence, ex-chairman of Sport Haslemere and Haslemere Hockey Club, and his wife Sally, founded The Simon Trust to support young adults with severe autism.

The charity is named after their son, now aged 25, who was diagnosed with the condition. It has raised £360,000 of its target of £500,000 to provide ‘all the extra on-site essentials’ for a £5.5million council centre at Linden Farm, Alfold, that will be home to 10 young adults at a location much closer to their families.

Currently, there is nowhere in Surrey where high-needs young adults can go. Simon Lawrence has been out of the county in residential care near Newbury, since he was diagnosed at the age of eight.

Simon’s parents set up the charity to provide a much-needed residential facility closer to home, to support their son and other young adults separated from their families.

The 10 residents at Linden Farm are severely autistic. Several are also epileptic, and they all need one to one care. They each cost Surrey CC about £200,000 a year in out-of-county placements.

Mr and Mrs Lawrence are horrified by a revised application (WA/2018/1044) for Linden Farm, which is due to open in the summer of 2019, as it eradicates the originally planned horticultural facilities and reduces the size of the activity centre by 45 per cent.

Proposals for a cycle track, a food technology kitchen, an enlarged sports area and chicken coop have been dropped and a much-needed sensory room reduced to an “unusable small size”.

Mr Lawrence protested: “Surrey had already cut £1million from the project in 2017, and now this new planning application, due to more budget cuts, takes away so many already planned on-site facilities.

“The Simon Trust has so far raised £360,000 specifically to finance these facilities, but the council says it does not want this money.

“The money would be purely a gift, with no ties and the trust could easily have raised £1million or more to reduce the £5.5million cost to the taxpayer – but Surrey keeps turning down this charity’s help.

“There are two issues – firstly the council wasting taxpayers’ money, but also these young adults are being denied access to on-site facilities and deprived of things to do. All disabled people need to go out into the community, but there has to be a balance with facilities on site.

“Many autism experts have written in to object to this new planning application, saying successful residential centres offer a wide range of on-site activities.”

Among those responding to the revised application, one objected: “The adults with severe autism, who will be living at Linden Farm, are some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people in the country, and it seems unfair that through these revisions to the plans they are going to be further disadvantaged.

“I urge you to reconsider these amendments.”

Responding to why the council has not accepted the charitable money on offer, a spokesman said: “We’re investing £5.5million in Linden Farm, however, with council finances under huge pressure it is important this remains within budget and, because of some unexpected issues during construction, we believe it will become necessary to make some changes in design.

“We’ve been unable to reach an agreement with The Simon Trust over funding, but we’re aware of the demands of these young people, and will ensure the site and care provided is suitable for everyone who is eligible to live there.”

The revised plan has yet to be approved and the trust is calling for anyone who shares its concerns about the lack of on-site facilities at Linden Farm to respond to the application.

Mr Lawrence added: “On a wider note there are so many lessons to be learned here for people wanting to set up autism provisions alongside a county council.”