CAMPAIGNERS fighting to keep a Hampshire birth centre open are to meet government health chiefs for face-to-face talks.

Fareham MP Mark Hoban and Friends of Blackbrook Babies co-ordinator Mel Watson are meeting with maternity health minister Liam Byrne in May to argue their case to keep Fareham's Blackbrook Birth Centre open.

They are hoping to get government backing in their fight to save Blackbrook and The Grange in Petersfield after they were closed temporarily last summer.

Petersfield MP Michael Mates and a representative from the Save the Grange Campaign will also attend the meeting.

Mark Hoban said: "The government wants to move services from large hospitals to local communities, but if Blackbrook and The Grange do not reopen, we will see the reverse happen in Hampshire.

"I want to see what the government can do to save these centres from permanent closure."

Members of the public recently met with health bosses from Fareham and Gosport Primary Care Trust (PCT) and Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust at a meeting to get some answers on the future of the centres.

Campaigners were hoping to get a date set for the reopening.

Instead, health chiefs admitted the Blackbrook Drive centre might never reopen if it is deemed too costly to modernise the ageing building.

Mr Hoban is to meet with Fareham and Gosport PCT on Friday to get an update on how much modernisation will cost and whether it will be carried out.

He said: "I know how much pressure there is for Blackbrook and I will continue to put pressure on the PCT and Portsmouth Hospitals Trust to reopen it."