A PROJECT to help families with young children in Blackpool has won government backing.

The Sure Start Mereside Partnership learned that its bid for a £1.9 million grant for a new community centre has been approved.

The centre, on the Mereside estate, will be used as a nursery, creche, training facility and play area for young children and their families.

The bid was made as part of the government's Trailblazer Programme to aid deprived urban areas.

In order to win approval the partnership had to show how families with children aged four and under would benefit from the project.

The partnership is made up of parents, health and education workers, social services and the voluntary sector.

The Sure Start Centre, as it will be known, is to be sited next to the youth centre on Bowness Avenue and is due to open in summer 2000. Partnership member Paul Simms, a resident on Mereside estate, said: "This is brilliant news for families in the area.

"It was hard work putting the plan together because we had to satisfy a lot of criteria.

"The centre will be great for working mothers with young children but will also link up with the youth centre to provide a service for all the family.

"The important thing is it is a project which gives local people what they need which is why they were consulted at every stage of the bid."

Blackpool's social services and housing executive councillor Sue Wright added: "I welcome this wonderful news and look forward to seeing the children and families of Clifton benefiting from this opportunity."

The project was one of 60 invited to apply for government funding with Blackpool one of the first 15 to be given final approval.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.