Iain Duncan Smith today visited a “highly effective” rehab centre on the verge of closure due to council cuts.

Russell Brand and the Woodford Green MP have both backed the campaign to raise £160,000 needed to keep the service going at 1NE, in The Broadway, Woodford Green.

Manager Fiona Dunwoodie, who set up the centre in 1987 with her mother, said the centre helps 100 people each year with abstinence based recovery treatment from drink or drug addiction.

She said the new Ilford-based service will not have relative support or children support and will not be fully abstinence based.

Russell Brand visited the centre last month to lend his support to the campaign to save the centre, which is due to close on March 31.

Mr Duncan Smith spoke with management at the centre today about finding a solution.

He said: “1NE is a unique and highly effective treatment provider with a record of over 70 per cent success, surpassing the success rates of the most renowned treatment centres worldwide.

“Thousands of residents of Redbridge and Waltham Forest have had their lives transformed through 1NE – it must not close.”

A Redbridge council spokeswoman said that while the closure was regrettable, the new system would mean more people are treated.

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