CAMPAIGNERS who want to secure community ownership of the Wilderness Centre near Mitcheldean have reacted with cautious optimism to new moves by Gloucestershire County Council.

Friends of the Wilderness Centre, which runs the Wilderness Project, said: "Having campaign­ed for the last two years to re-establish environmental education at the Wilderness Centre, the board of the Wilderness project has received information that suggests that a transfer of the Wilderness Centre to the community is now a real possibility."

The board, which aims to return the centre as an educational asset for the whole community, has changed its business structure to enable supporters and businesses to own a stake in the future of the centre.

It is hoped this will allow them the chance to engage fully with Gloucestershire County Council in negotiating the release of the centre to a community-led organisation.

The centre at Plump Hill is currently closed and fenced, and costs taxpayers an estimated £3,000 per week in security costs.

The Wilderness Project has based its claim to return the centre to public use squarely on the Localism Act 2012 - part of the Prime Minister David Cameron's much debated 'Big Society' initiative – which states that local assets and resources which are taken away from a community should, wherever possible, be returned to a local group that can demonstrate a viable business plan for the future development of the resource.

Gloucestershire County Council's property man­ager, Neil Corbett, said: "We continue to assess the best options for the Wilderness site to get the best deal for tax payers, and get the best consideration of the assets value as required by law."

The centre was bought by the county council in 1968, and, until it closed amid much anger from the community two years ago, had hosted more than 250,000 adults and children over 40 years.

It is expected that a working party will be set up by the County Council to examine its handling of the centre.