Hundreds of people have signed up to an online campaign to save a much-loved respite centre.

In March, we reported how the NHS had decided to close Preston Skreens in Minster as the building will cost too much to bring up to scratch.

The decision followed a review of overnight short break respite for children in Swale and Medway and it is expected to shut in 2013 to 2014.

Medway NHS Foundation Trust, which owns it, has vowed it is just the building which is closing and not the service.

Any families which use it will have been promised access to services elsewhere.

The centre opened in 1978 and offers 60 children with disabilities short stays to give their families a break.

Although there will be a formal consultation starting in September, the decision to sell up is final.

A Facebook group which has been set up called Save Preston Skreens has already attracted more than 1,700 members.

There is also a link on the group to a petition calling for the centre to remain which has been set up by Michael Hilderbrando corrand will be sent to the Department of Health.

Mr Hilderbrando’s nine-year-old daughter Adele uses Preston Skreens and he says he is outraged at the decision.

“It is absolutely critical to keep it open,” he said.

“It’s not to do with bricks and mortar – it’s to do with the service that the people who work there provide.

“A lot of the children are disabled and autistic and autistic children can’t tolerate change.

“It’s completely ridiculous to attempt to build a new building somewhere else when there’s a perfectly usable and feasible building that children are still using right now.”

Mr Hilderbrando said he also feels some of the information parents are being provided with by the NHS is not clear and accurate.

A public meeting about the centre’s future is due to take place on Wednesday, May 22, at 9.30am Demelza Hospice Care for Children in Rook Lane, Bobbing, which NHS, Social Services and Kent County Council representatives will attend.

• To sign up to the Facebook group, search Save Preston Skreens.

A spokesman for the NHS encouraged parents and carers to contact them with any concerns.

They added: “Every disabled child, young person and their family that currently use these services will continue to have access to them.

“Overnight breaks from the Preston Skreens building will not stop until a new range of services, shaped in partnership with families, has been developed.”

• Parents and carers can contact Richard Barker who is leading the review with any comments, suggestions or concerns on richard.barker@medway.gov.uk or by phoning 01634 334402.