SOUTHAMPTON looks set to become a beacon of excellence for gymnastics training in the south.

Plans to include a high quality gymnastics base at the planned multi-million-pound Healthy Living Centre in Charlotte Place have been approved by the city council's Cabinet.

The new regional centre is set to cost about £1.75m and will be paid for by a Sport England lottery grant if an application for lottery money due to take place next month is successful.

When completed in 2006, the facility will provide high-quality gymnastics training to thousands of city schoolchildren at elite and regional level.

The centre would specialise in "Sports Acro Gymnastics" as well as develop potential gymnasts to national and international standards. It will develop links with the Asian community and encourage Asian women to take part in the sport as well as increase the number of people taking part in gymnastics from the Afro Caribbean community.

The former gymnasium at Redbridge Community School will also be used to train athletes to world-beating standards.

The decision was greeted with jubilation by gymnastics clubs in the city who say the scheme will give inner city children the chance to benefit from high quality training.

Chairman of Newtown Gymnastics Club Tony Broomes said: "It will be very important for ethnic minorities. It will give them the opportunity to get involved in a sport that they do not generally get involved in. We have not seen many Asian or other ethnic minority gymnasts but you will see some now."

He was backed by the chairman of Southampton Gymnastics Club Kevin Warren who welcomed the decision to go ahead with the scheme.

He said: "We have been working for seven years on this project. It is extremely satisfying and I have a lot of respect for the work that the city council and its officers have done to make this a reality. We will now have facilities which will be some of the best in the country."