THE future of a community centre has been secured with the announcement that £400,000 is to be spent revamping it.

Hambleton Community Centre, in Bullamoor Road, Northallerton, was facing the threat of closure earlier this year when council chiefs decided it had become too expensive to run.

However, after a wide-ranging public consultation, Hambleton District Council has agreed to invest the money to safeguard the future of the 27-year-old centre.

Councillors chose to upgrade the centre rather than spend over £2m replacing it with a single-storey extension to the town's leisure centre, at Stone Cross.

"The chance to do something new, bold and significant for Hambleton is an exciting prospect," said council leader June Imeson. "But we must temper that with the need for other projects in the district. If we go for a complete rebuild, costing £3.3m, we will be unable to undertake any other major schemes for a number of years.

"We listened to our existing customers, some of whom were against any relocation plans, and have decided the way forward is to develop the existing centre."