A TRAINING base at the centre of a Middlesbrough community has reopened nearly two years after it closed.

Residents were shocked and angered two years ago when council chiefs enjoyed a Christmas dinner at the TAD Centre before telling managers they were closing it with the loss of 40 jobs.

The future for the centre looked bleak when the company running it went into liquidation in January last year after it ran up losses of £200,000 a year.

Middlesbrough Council has gone back on its decision and has put together a package to bring the centre, which was opened in 1994 and built with European and City Challenge funding, back into community use.

Community groups were this week told the centre had reopened.

Groups such as SureStart, the adult education service, the Neighbourhood Nurseries initiative, Unity City Academy, Middlesbrough Primary Care Trust (PCT) and Cleveland Resource and Learning will all have bases at the centre.

Proposals were outlined on Thursday night, at a meeting of east Middlesbrough community councils, by Councillor Nicky Walker, Middlesbrough Council's executive member for resources, and Paul Slocombe, the council's director of strategic finance.

Coun Walker said: "Putting together a sustainable package which would bring the TAD Centre back into constructive use benefiting the community was a painstaking process, but it has now produced the right result.

"Most of the building is now back in use.

"I am delighted that the PCT, Unity City Academy and Cleveland Resource and Learning have invested £15,000 in converting bedrooms at the centre into office and meeting space and are considering further investment.

"That is a sign of their confidence in the centre's future, and means we have been able to do this work at zero cost to local council taxpayers.

"We now want to build on this success and bring more organisations into the centre. It is an excellent facility and we believe it has a lot to offer."

Discussions are taking place with the Tees and North Yorkshire NHS Trust about using facilities at the centre.

An event to mark the centre's reopening will be held this month.