A SUCCESSFUL youth project centre which has helped to turn the tide for young people in Weymouth could be thrown a lifeline by county officials.

External funding to support the centre is set to stop next March, leaving project managers desperate to plug a £70,000 shortfall.

Tides in Newstead Road has been such a success story, however, that Dorset County Council is set to make it a priority in its budget next year.

Education chief David Goddard says the centre has helped many disaffected youngsters into work, education or training, plus it has developed effective links with agencies like Dorset Police, Weymouth College, the Employment Service and others.

Tides opened in 1998 on the site of a former trading standards office and quickly established itself as a key player in the provision of services to young people.

"Tides has a reputation for excellence, both locally and nationally and has been seen as a beacon of the county council's provision for a number of years," says Mr Goddard in a report to councillors.

He adds: "The centre is considered a model for partnership working and has broken new ground in exploring innovative ways to help extremely disaffected young people."

Since it opened, Tides has been financed almost entirely through external funds and a large proportion of the funding through the Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) will cease on March 31 next year, said Mr Goddard.

He estimates that in order to maintain provision at its current level, the Tides budget requirement for 2002/3 will be £160,000. While support from Weymouth and Portland Borough Council's SRB programme stops in March, other sources of income also come to an end next year.

Youth service managers are currently investigating other sources of funding they can tap in the future.

For 2002/03 the shortfall has been identified as £70,000 and this has now been put forward as a service priority for consideration by Dorset County Council's Cabinet at its budget meeting in December.

Mr Goddard will urge today's joint education and social services overview and scrutiny sub-committee to recommend that continuation of funding for Tides be included in the education service priorities.

Tides manager Ron Pryce said today: "We are really pleased that we are being considered by Dorset County Council for future funding.

"We have had a major impact on young people in Weymouth and Portland and those referred to us throughout the county and have helped over 200 young people into work and training over the past two years."

He added: "We now have our fingers crossed that we will have the funding to continue to provide a quality provision."