HEARTBROKEN members of a children’s charity in South Gloucestershire have had to watch their possessions get put into storage after being unable to find a new home.

Incredible Kids moved to Whale Wharf Business Park in Littleton on Severn last year after its temporary base in South Gloucestershire Council’s former offices in Thornbury were sold for redevelopment, being granted use of the site for free by owner Charlie Tull.

The charity supports around 600 families of children with disabilities or life limiting conditions across South Gloucestershire, with more than 6,000 visits being made to use their facilities each year, resulting in annual running costs of £40,000.

But in January the charity were told by SGC planning enforcement officers they need to vacate the site, due to the flood risk it poses, adding that the landowner failed to follow planning procedure and demonstrate acceptable safety measures had been taken.

A 12-week grace period was given for the charity to seek out a new home, but despite frantic searching and a desperate plea to the community for help, they were unable to find an alternative and were forced to close their doors.

This morning, moving trucks arrived at the business park and began loading the charity’s toys and equipment, which will go into storage.

Trustee Jennie Prewett, whose family are one of those that use the charity, said that the closure was “devastating” for all that attend.

“We are truly heartbroken for our families,” she said, “many of whom have been in tears over this.”

“Incredible Kids are heavily reliant on the local authority for somewhere to run our service because it is not something we can achieve by ourselves.

“We have the people to run the service but just don’t have the place to run it from, it is too expensive.

“There has got to be a long term solution, ideally somewhere we can run a seven-day service that will support the needs of the children in our area.”

It is hoped that the charity will be able to continue to run at a smaller scale, but said that with most of the toys and equipment owned by the charity being in secure storage, it would be difficult to regularly use most of the equipment that makes the service suitable for all needs.

Fellow trustee Sandy Davis said that the charity had a potential offer from a church in Kingswood, but said that the venue would require a lot of work as they would need to pack away everything each day, as well as meaning a much longer journey for all the families.