THE Okehampton-based charity C-FAR has exchanged contracts to purchase Burdon Grange Nursing Home at Highampton although a funding bid of £2-million has not been secured from the Home Office.

C-FAR (Centre of Adolescent Rehabilitation) has paid the deposit of £80,000 and will be renting the property from owner Maurice Thomas for the next five months while a funding package is put together.

Chief executive of the charity Trevor Philpott said the signs were optimistic that Home Office funding would be forthcoming but C-FAR was not relying on it.

'I have been in contact with charitable trusts who have indicated their support and if it comes down to it we will have to take a mortgage and pay for the property in the conventional way,' he said. 'After many months of uncertainty we are now relieved that we can move in on April 2 and continue the groundbreaking work we have been doing at Okehampton Camp.'

C-FAR, which runs intensive residential courses for persistent young offenders who want to break the cycle of crime, has received £150,000 from the Home Office already to help towards running costs of £1.4-million per year. A decision on the bid for capital funds to purchase and convert Burdon Grange, which closed as a nursing home in November, is expected in the next few weeks.

Mr Philpott said there had been pressure both on the charity, whose lease at Okehampton Camp runs out next month, and on the owners of the property in getting the deal done and dusted.

'The Thomas' have been trying to sell the property for two and a half years and they have been extremely patient with us,' he said. 'It has been a stressful period for everybody.'

C-FAR has been praised by the Prison and Probation Service and was mentioned in the Home Office Social Exclusion Report as an example of 'good practice.'

Mr Philpott said there was a potential danger of serious overcrowding in prisons and C-FAR's pioneering work to rehabilitate young offenders in the community was very much in line with the Government's aims for the future.

Maurice Thomas said he was very happy with the arrangement with C-FAR and it was a 'relief' that contracts had finally been exchanged.

Meanwhile one of the main opponents of C-FAR moving into the village David Richards said the community remained very concerned because it was now 'imminent'.

'I am one of the eight householders situated at the end of the lane to Burdon Grange and we are concerned that this area will no longer be crime-free,' he said. 'We are seeking advice from a crime prevention officer because, unlike in the past, we will not be able to leave our windows open and cars unlocked.'