Somerford community centre could face a reprieve from demolition after a U-turn by the local housing association.

Sovereign Housing Association won permission from a planning inspector in 2011 to turn the community centre on the corner of Southey Road and Amethyst Road into flagship offices despite a hard fought campaign against the scheme by local residents and councillors.

The proposal, which included demolishing the building and replacing it with a two-storey office development for Sovereign staff, was initially turned down by councillors at Christchurch but approved on appeal.

But now, after two years of inactivity, the housing association are in talks regarding the future of the well-loved facility.

Meetings have taken place between residents’ group, the Somerford Community Partnership (SCP), and Sovereign Housing Association to discuss ongoing issues on the estate, including Scotts Green and the Community Centre.

Chris Hopkins, chairman of the SCP said the meetings had been “very open and informative”.

“The meeting in July was to discuss generally the way forward for Somerford and the “vision” for any future developments.

“It was agreed that lessons should be learnt after the very unpopular application relating to both Scotts Green and the Community Centre and any future development proposals should be the subject of consultation with the local residents before any decisions were made.

“SHA (Sovereign) have now confirmed that the application for their proposed new offices on the Community Centre site is not to proceed.”

Ward councillor Denise Jones added: “I am absolutely delighted at the prospect. It was a bad idea from the beginning because that site has a covenant on it.

“The residents and councillors will be watching very carefully because of this covenant issue and we hope that Sovereign will continue to liaise with the community partnership to ensure that this valuable facility is kept for the benefit of Somerford.”

A spokesperson for Sovereign Housing Association said: “Sovereign has no firm plans for the Community Hall, although we have always been committed to maintaining a community facility.

“We are continuing our discussions with the Somerford Partnership and other residents’ groups.”