A DECISION to keep the world-renowned National Fruit Collection in Faversham has been hailed as a great Christmas present.

Tony Hillier, chairman of Hillreed Land, the owners of Brogdale Farm, said the Government’s decision was good news for the collection, for Faversham and Swale.

The University of Reading has been given a five-year deal to maintain and manage the collection which includes thousands of varieties of apples, pears, quinces and other fruit, many of them extremely rare.

It saw off rival bids, including one by Brogdale Horticultural Trust, which previously ran the collection for 18 years and controversially wanted to remove the collection to East Malling, near Maidstone.

Mr Hillier was delighted with Defra’s decision. "It’s a great Christmas present," he said, "and marvellous news for the farm and for Swale."

It would provide security for scores of local jobs in the rural economy and continue to attract visitors to the area. "Defra have come up with the unanimous decision that the Reading University bid is the best one."

Faversham Town councillor Derrick Swain said: "It’s wonderful news. The council has been working for several months, engaging with MP Hugh Robertson and Sittingbourne MP Derek Wyatt. It’s important for tourism as an educational and scientific resource - a lot of people will make a beeline for Faversham."

A Trust spokesman said: "The Brogdale Horticultural Trust is very disappointed to hear that Defra has not chosen the Kent consortium to continue to look after the National Fruit Collections for the next five years.

"The Brogdale Horticultural Trust will now consider how best the objectives of the trust conservation, education and research can be fulfilled in the future."

Mr Hillier’s firm has injected £1 million into the site over the past year, creating up to 30 jobs, and making it more accessible and attractive to visitors from across the world.

Mr Hillier added: "We’ve invested in the site, we’ve stood for the living collections, we’re committed to the site and we’re happy with the decision. We’re hoping to get a plant centre up and running which will be complementary to the collection, refurbish the restaurant and after that pause for breath."

The decision is a triumph for campaigners fighting to keep the precious collection in Swale.

Around 2,000 people signed a petition calling for the fruit to be kept in the town, and there was strong support from local councils, although Kent County Council initially backed the Trust's plan to remove the collection from Faversham.

However, KCC’s scrutiny committee recently overturned support given by Cabinet member Roger Gough and switched its backing to any scheme that kept the collection in Faversham.

Jeff Rooker, Minister of Sustainable Farming and Food, said: "The long term security of the collections has always been our main priority therefore we welcome the decision for the National Fruit collection to remain at Brogdale.

"Local support stressing the importance of retaining the collections at Brogdale has been continuous since the start of the tendering process and we are delighted with the final outcome and to be working alongside Reading as the new curators."