A COMMUNITY centre serving families and young people in Hubberston and Hakin may be saved from immediate closure, thanks to a re-evaluation of county council plans.

At a cabinet meeting on Monday (November 3), members will vote on proposals to keep Hakin and Hubberston Community Centre open, while removing its youth club provision, which would merge with that offered in Milford Haven.

If approved, the recommendations put before members would see management of the centre passed to the Flying Start programme, and new services like parenting classes offered there.

The switch, which would take place no later than Easter 2015, would mean funding for the centre is guaranteed until 2017.

However, it looks likely that Cilgerran and Solva will still lose their youth clubs, while sessions in Neyland will halve and the existing building be closed, if all the recommendations are approved.

Cllr Viv Stoddart, who represents the Hubberston ward, said she was hopeful that cabinet would endorse the recommendations, and safeguard a “well-used centre which is at the heart of the communities of Hakin and Hubberston”.

She added that it was regretful that the youth club would still likely close, and said she would be asking the council to monitor the attendance of former Hakin and Hubberston youth club members at the Milford Haven club, as “any drop-off in numbers will be a concern”.

Cllr Stoddart also paid tribute to everyone who had “rallied round” to save the centre, and thanked members of the council's Children and Families Scrutiny Committee, who she said demonstrated the “effectiveness of scrutiny” by ‘calling in’ plans which would have seen the centre close.