MINEHEAD EYE - West Somerset's purpose-built extreme sports skate park and youth centre - has broken even for the first time.

The not-for-profit multi-million pound facility on the Mart Road estate was opened nearly three years ago to give young people across the district access to a range of facilities in sports, art, music and media.

But after returning a small deficit in its first two years of trading the centre has now broken even and hopes to make a profit next year.

West Somerset Council's scrutiny committee was told on Monday that the facility is one of just 60 in the country to have received funding from the previous Government's Myplace programme, which aimed to develop world-class youth centres in some of the most deprived areas in England.

Minehead EYE received £3.2 million from the scheme after the district council had given a £250,000 grant to kick-start the project.

But while many other Myplace-funded centres were struggling to cope following local authority cuts, the Minehead facility was doing more than weathering the storm.

Naomi Griffith, chairman of the directors, said Minehead EYE, which was run as a social enterprise model - a community interest company - was frequently held up as a sustainable success.

Director Jess Prendergrast said the facility had a £200,000 turnover and had created 20 jobs - the equivalent of just under six full-time posts - in the past three years.

"It is not insignificant," she said.

"The jobs range from a full-time manager to a part-time administrator and youth workers.

"Going forward, we hope not just to break even but to build up some resources.

"There are Myplace centres all over the country that are struggling so we are really pleased that we have managed to break even."

Councillors were told that Minehead EYE, which includes a skate area that also doubles up as a flexible space for a variety of activities, cafe, multimedia suite, recording studio, DJ booth and a range of other facilities, used a mixture of funding streams and focused on being flexible and adaptable.

Ms Griffith said the key ethos and aims of the facility were to deliver a good value and low cost service to local young people.

More than 2,000 young people had benefited from the activities offered and Minehead EYE had exceeded more than 80 per cent of its targets.

It currently had a total of 700 members, from aged ten upwards, many of whom were keen volunteers, offering help ranging from fundraising to cleaning and tidying the facility.

In addition, Minehead EYE was proving a popular venue for events from a jobs fair to a model railway show.

Developments in the pipeline include a new bouldering wall, while Minehead EYE has also taken over responsibility for a number of youth clubs in the district, working with other organisations and local councils.

Ms Griffith said the first two years of Minehead EYE had been a "bedding in" process and a review was now underway to see what activities worked and what did not.

Councillors, who had asked for an update on the current and future plans and aspirations of the facility, were unanimous in their praise.

Cllr Peter Murphy said: "It is a wonderful resource."