A TROUBLED community centre and theatre is to be reopened by the district council.

The Barrington Centre in Ferndown suddenly closed its doors to the public on Friday last week, its operating charity mired in financial difficulties, leaving residents heartbroken and those community groups which use the facilities high and dry.

However East Dorset District Council, which owns the building, is currently gearing up to take over from the insolvent Ferndown Community Association charity.

Councillor Ray Bryan, the authority's portfolio holder for performance, said: "It is very sad because the people of Ferndown have lost out in the short term."

He said the council is unable to begin running the centre until the charity has formally ended its lease, but it will seek to reopen the building to the public as soon as possible.

"We will put together a business plan and look at what works and what doesn't," he said.

"It may not come back in quite the same format. That is probably highly unlikely as certain areas were losing money.

"Unfortunately in the meantime all the staff have been made redundant."

Cllr Bryan said he believed criticism of the centre's management was unfair, however he thought there had been a lack of communication of key financial information among the charity's staff and trustees.

Also, he said, the centre had struggled to attract people to shows and had sometimes ended up paying more to performers than it received in income.

"East Dorset is waiting in the wings to make sure we don't let the local community down," he added.

"It is our responsibility to do what is right for the people within that community."

Both the town council and the police are expected to be able to continue using the building during the transfer period, however the public will be excluded until it officially reopens.

The charity received two large donations from Ferndown residents in the past two weeks - one of £8,500 for new carpeting and £2,000 to fix a faulty gas system.

Cllr Bryan said the council anticipated the charity would be able to pay off its debts, including the cost of tickets bought in advance, by selling some of its remaining assets.