NEWS that Southampton's Eastpoint Centre looks to have been saved for the future is welcome indeed.

The ambitious community project to serve the people of the Thornhill area of the city was always going to face challenges.

When the project was seen to collapse earlier this year due to lack of funding it appeared to be a bitter blow to that community.

With hindsight the project was heavy in well-meaning ambition but light on reality.

A lot of people worked very hard to bring the project to fruition, but alas it was not to be.

The new collaboration between Itchen College and Plus You Limited, the successor to Thornhill's regeneration project, looks to make more sense.

There will be fewer full-time staff at the centre, which is a pity, but the costs set against the venture will be lower and it should prove easier to maintain community events and meanings, the lifeblood of any such centre and almost certainly the most important factor to local residents.

The people of Thornhill were promised a lively community centre to reflect their ambitions as a community.

Let us hope the new birth offered to Eastpoint is better at fulfilling those dreams.