A COMMUNITY facility will be opened in Hartlepool today by the town's MP Peter Mandelson.

The £650,000 Sure Start (South) Centre on Rossmere Way, is a Government-funded initiative to provide additional education, health and social care support to families with children up to the age of four.

The Sure Start (South) programme is funded until March 2004, and is backed by £2.2m of Government money. The programme will help families in the Rossmere, Seaton Grange and Owton areas.

Denise Sutton, Sure Start (South) manager, said: "This is a superb facility which will play a major role in helping families with young children. Even before the building was officially opened it was already established as a focal point for the local community."