HEALTH chiefs are considering whether to spend tens of thousands of pounds on temporarily reopening a birth centre.

Repairs to the Blackbrook Birth Centre in Fareham will cost them £83,000.

They must decide whether they are willing to invest the cash on the popular birth centre which campaigners have been fighting to save or whether money should be used elsewhere.

The centre is run by East Hampshire and Fareham and Gosport Primary Care Trust.

Its director of strategic development Inger Hebden said: "People feel strongly about Blackbrook but we need to think about our maternity services as a whole.

"We now know it will cost £83,000 to carry out repairs to the building and bring it up to fire regulations. We need to speak to our stakeholders and tell them our options and what we think about spending this money. To repair a building £83,000 is not an unreasonable sum but it's money we might want to spend on another part of the maternity services."

The birth centre in Blackbrook Drive closed last summer due to a shortage of midwives. Campaigners have even taken their plight to Downing Street. It could cost up to £900,000 to get the centre back up and running again for a ten year period.

Mel Watson, co-ordinator of the Bring Back Blackbrook Babies campaign, said although she wanted to see Blackbrook reopened - the short-term option might not be the answer.

"The money should be used to ensure that we have maternity services in Fareham in the future - even if it is in alternative venues."

The building could be open again by the autumn. A decision is expected on May 24.