THE news prospective parents in Petersfield have been waiting two years for has finally been confirmed – The Grange Birth Centre has been given a new lease of life. It follows a long, drawn out fight to save the popular centre and huge public support. Hampshire Primary Care Trust this week announced "You told us, and we've listened" after a consultation across south-east Hampshire was carried out to decide which birth centre option was best for the area. Petersfield's Grange Birth Centre will now join Blake in Gosport, and a unit at St Mary's Hospital in Portsmouth – which will move to Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham in 2009 – officially known as Option One – as a birthing destination. The new improved Grange, on Swan Street, will now provide 24-hour care and a "better service", starting in April 2008. Patricia Exley, of the Save The Grange campaign and Petersfield and Liss National Childbirth Trust, said: "It's what we have been fighting for since the closure in 2005. It means that we get the Grange open 24 hours a day, seven days a week with midwives on hand so that birth and post-natal stays are possible for women in the Petersfield area. "We will be working with the Portsmouth Hospital Trust to publicise the services at the Grange so that women use them." Residents were consulted from July to October, with 505 people out of 640 favouring an option which included Petersfield, with many people attending drop-in sessions across the area at shopping centres, markets, mother-and-baby groups, and community hospitals. Victory for the Grange has come at the expense of Blackbrook in Fareham, which will now close. Hampshire Primary Care Trust preferred and has approved option one because: n It ensures that the purpose-built Grange and Blake birth centres are retained in areas that are more geographically isolated; n It retains use of the co-located unit, which is one of the most used of the birth centres provided in south-east Hampshire; n Though Blackbrook Birth Centre in Fareham would be closed under this option, Fareham itself is in a geographically advantageous position ensuring women in the area still have good choice and access to other services; n Blackbrook Birth Centre is an 18th Century, grade II listed building which would require approximately £1m investment to refurbish Blackbrook to minimum standards for a birth centre. Hampshire Primary Care Trust area director of commissioning Alex Berry said: "We are pleased that so many residents in the south-east of Hampshire came forward to express their views about the proposed options. "After a thorough consultation with the public and NHS staff, the board has approved Option One, which will now go to Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust for their approval. "We feel this option provides the best service and value for money for the residents of south-east Hampshire, and should maternity circumstances dramatically change in the area, the primary care trust has given its commitment to looking at potential future options." Last month, at a public meeting headed by East Hampshire MP Michael Mates, it was hinted that the Grange would be chosen. Sarah Roberts, of the Save The Grange campaign, said at the meeting: "It's what we've been campaigning about for the past two years. We feel it is vital that the Grange is to open 24/7. We don't want it to open and shut. We want people to trust it and believe in it." The Grange was forced to shut in 2005 due to staff shortages and a lack of funding, but re-opened in a limited capacity in October 2006.