WORK started today on building the road that will eventually serve the proposed South Gwent Children's Centre at High Cross, Newport.

Contractors were due on site to prepare for the creation of the road, off the existing High Cross Road, which will involve the demolition of two houses. Services will also be installed ready to supply the site.

The work marks the beginning of a new phase in the development of the centre, which is being designed to cater for the needs of more than 1,200 disabled children across south Gwent.

The children's centre is the subject of the ongoing Sparkle Appeal - run by the South Gwent Children's Foundation charity and backed by the Argus - which aims to raise money for its construction.

"The foundation is delighted that the access and servicing works to the children's centre site are about to commence, as it means that work on the children's centre itself can begin once sufficient funding has been secured," said Dr Sabine Maguire, chairman of South Gwent Children's Foundation.

When it was first proposed several years ago, the £6 million project was considered unlikely to attract public money, so the appeal was launched to try to bring it to fruition.

But recently the Assembly administration's capital budget for health projects has increased considerably, set to more than double from £120m this year to £309m in 2007/08.

Gwent Healthcare Trust, believing the time is right to bid for some of that money, announced last summer that it was to put the project up for consideration. It is currently preparing a strategic outline case, to persuade the Assembly executive of the need for the centre.

This should be ready by early spring, and if the Assembly administration gives it the thumbs up, a detailed business case will be required.

In the meantime, it has been decided to put in the access and services required, as the foundation is committed to providing the centre with or without the help of public money.

If the project attracts Assembly funding, money raised by the Sparkle Appeal will be used to help equip the centre, which will provide a state-of-the-art, one-stop shop for disabled youngsters and their families, who currently have to use several different and outdated facilities to cater for their needs.