A Prestigious outdoor education centre may have to close its doors if its funding is cut.

If proposals by Newport City Council go ahead, a knock-on effect could cause Hilston Park to put up its prices or shut altogether.

The Gwent Outdoor Education service, a collaborative arrangement between Blaenau-Gwent, Newport, Monmouthshire and Torfaen, has been in place since 1996 and has enabled all four partners to provide a high quality, cost efficient, locally-based service at a relatively modest cost.

This service is now under threat after Newport City Council's cabinet proposed cuts to their education budget.

Current support from primary and secondary schools within Newport is strong, with 43 out of 49 primary and secondary schools being regular users.

Annually, the outdoor service provides over 19,000 user days, of which over 6,000 are provided to young people from Newport.

Head of Services Ian Kennet told the Beacon: "Should Newport withdraw financial support there could be a number of potential knock-on effects.

"Charges for a five day stay for primary pupils could increase by at least £100 to £265 and the lack of additional financial support available to those eligible for free school meals could mean charges to these children more than trebling."

Such increases could result in parents being unable to afford the service while at the same time school budgets would be either insufficient or under huge pressure to subsidise costs.

Either way, the ultimate losers would be the children and schools who currently benefit from the service.

The centre's activities form part of the Key Stage 2 and 3 PE national curriculum, even though schools are able to fulfill their curriculum requirements elsewhere, nowhere is easier than a week at Hilston Park.

"The subsidy we receive from each authority to support their pupils has been frozen since 2007," said Mr Kennet.

"Charges to children has increased above inflation in order for the service to maintain a balanced budget.

"We are therefore costing each of the authorities less in real terms than we did four years ago

"Newport is our biggest authority withe quarter of our funding and the question remains, without that funding can we survive with the present three centres at Hilston, Gilwern and Tal-y-bont?

"We may well have to put up charges or even close one of the centres in order to maintain our curent level of services."

Although Hilston Park is the most expensive centre to maintain, it is also one of the most heavily booked.

"Financial instability resulting from losing support from the largest of the four local authority partners could mean the closure of at least one and possibly two of the three current outdoor centres and loss of provision to children from all four local authorities," he added.

Although this is all still speculation, they may well have to look to make some decisions to survive.

Ironically Tal-y-Bont, which is in Powys and owned by Newport County Council, may be the first casualty in any closure.

Marilyn Balkwill, headteacher at Cross Ash Primary School, said: "Pupils from Cross Ash Primary have used the facilities at Hilston Park annually for their Year 5 outdoor pursuits week.

"The pupils have always benefited greatly from this experience, so much so that we have now planned to use Hilston Park to develop a range of skills in a weekly Outdoor Activities Club.

"It will be a great shame if cuts in their funding make these activities unfeasible.

"The confidence and positive attitudes that this outdoor pursuits centre promotes also have a beneficial effect on learning in the classroom.

"I wholeheartedly hope that this facility and the opportunities it can offer continue in the future."