A Surrey educational charity has announced it has been offered a potential new site, three months after launching a crowdfunder, warning it could soon have to cease operations.
While the proposal is yet to be finalised, Change of Scene says a local landowner has come forward with the offer of a 20-year lease that could provide a home once the tenure on the charity’s current site comes to an end next year.
The Farnham-based charity works with young people excluded from mainstream education, helping them gain skills and confidence through learning to care for animals.
A spokesperson described the land as “amazing – quiet, secluded and perfect for the vulnerable young people who use our service”.
Shooting rights scupper charity’s lease
Change of Scene had been on a five-year hunt for a new site due to its lease expiring in June 2026, and was preparing to formalise a long-term agreement for premises in West Sussex for which it had also submitted a planning application.
But the organisation said it had been belatedly informed that the land has restrictive covenants on it permitting shooting by third parties, ruling out the move. It said that the collapse of the deal had cost it around £20,000.
“Our plans turned to dust,” Change of Scene said in a statement on its crowdfunding page. It added that if no new home was secured by Easter 2025, then it would have “no choice” but to close by the following June.
The crowdfunder, which had been targeting £300,000 towards estimated costs of up to £600,000 to secure a new site in a part of the UK with high land values, ended on 14 April having raised £11,719.
‘Promising signs’ for future
But the charity said the campaign had nonetheless ended with a “positive outcome” after the local landowner came forward to offer the long lease on some of his property.
Change of Scene said the potential move was “not set in stone” but that things “are looking promising” around securing its future.
The charity said its staff and trustees were working hard to ensure that the new site is suitable for its activities. It still needs money to set up its new site and provide housing for its animals – which include sheep, goats, pigs and alpacas.
“Our first problem, finding land, looks to be solved, but our second remains: we need money to move,” Change of Scene’s spokesperson told Civil Society. “We need to raise funds for infrastructure, including a kids' cabin, office, toilets, kitchen and storage for hay and feed, plus fencing, animal housing, raised beds and a polytunnel.”
The charity is continuing to fundraise directly through its website as it seeks to meet these costs.
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