A children’s charity says it is being forced to close down and has accused Greenwich Council of a last-minute U-turn on a vital loan that would have kept it afloat.

A war of words has broken out after Wide Horizons, based in Eltham, claimed it will have to shut because of a council backtrack over a £200,000 pledge.

The outdoor adventure charity has been crowdfunding for its future since April, and said the council had intended until earlier this week to supply a much-needed injection.

The crowdfunder was initially launched because of pressure on school budgets, leading to a decline in business and rising costs.

The charity claims it will have to close next week, putting 75 people out of work, unless the public can come up with the remaining shortfall.

Chief executive Peter Rogers said: “It’s tragic really. The council only took the decision on Wednesday not to provide the loan, having known for four months that we would have to close without it.

“We are bitterly disappointed as they had implied right up until yesterday that they would support us.

“As it stands, unless we can find £200k in the next week to match the £200k that has already been pledged by our other supporters we will have to close.

“It has been confirmed that the decision was made without the consultation of the cabinet or the full council. It is somewhat shocking, given the fantastic community support received, as well as the fact that over 70 per cent of Greenwich schools rely on Wide Horizons to provide their outdoor education.

“Yet, coincidentally, this decision has been made once all schools have broken up for the summer holidays.

“This results in Greenwich Council avoiding any backlash from schools, parents and pupils who will now miss out on life-changing trips already booked for the next school year.”

The charity had already chosen to close four of its sites – but it now says all nine will shut.

At last week’s full council, it was revealed that £17k of Greenwich schools’ deposits would be lost if the charity was to fold.

Questions have been asked about the charity’s future at full council meetings in June and July.

Chairman of trustees for Wide Horizons and former Lewisham councillor John Russell said: “This is an amazingly short-sighted decision by the council.

“It will almost certainly cost them more than £200k to secure and maintain the properties that Wide Horizons currently lease from Greenwich but that will be left redundant and will subsequently need new people to run them.”

Mr Russell said the charity has asked the council to reconsider, adding it is open to working with the authority to find a solution before next week’s closure.

Greenwich Council leader Dan Thorpe has denied the council “U-turned”, saying it was not in the taxpayers’ interest to bail the charity out.

He said: “Just before the turn of the year Greenwich and Lewisham councils underwrote a £1.4m loan to Wide Horizons based upon a new business model, but only a few months later the charity came back asking for an additional £400,000 as they were experiencing financial difficulty.

“Our assessment was that the additional funding would only keep the charity afloat until the end of this year, so we made it clear then that we could not provide more funding unless they developed a more sustainable business model. To claim we made a ‘last-minute U-turn’ is just plain wrong.”

The leader said the charity submitted proposals “less than 48 hours” before the deal needed to be reached, and the proposed business model was not sustainable.

He said: “The organisation, and its staff in particular, have provided a valuable service for children in the borough, so we are bitterly disappointed with this outcome.

“We will make sure the sites we own are protected and will explore options for them to continue to be used to provide outdoor education opportunities. We will liaise with schools in September and work towards a long-term sustainable solution.

“However, we have to spend our limited resources wisely and cannot continue to bail out a charity that clearly does not know how to manage its finances.”

The charity, which has centres in Thamesmead, Shooters Hill, and West Kingsdown, will continue to crowdfund.