A TRUST which runs a Newport community centre is facing financial difficulties it has emerged - just before it is supposed to become self-sufficient.

Many vital services are run from the Pill Millennium Centre and council bosses have stepped in to try and help.

Pill Mill was refurbished in 2000 with a £300,000 grant from the Millennium Commission.

A condition of receiving the money was that the management of the council-owned building would transfer from the authority to a community trust.

Such an independent trust was established in 2006 but the council promised to give financial support for the next three years.

The agreement was based on the understanding that it would be completely self-sufficient - or have identified funding sources - by the end of this month.

Over the last three years, the council has given more than £350,000 towards staffing and other costs incurred by the trust in running the centre.

Council officers and auditors are now working with the trustees to tackle the centre's financial problems.

"Pill Millennium Centre has excellent facilities and provides a good service to local people and organisations," said a council spokesperson.

"We are keen to work with the trustees of the centre to find a solution to the difficulties they are facing."

A spokesman for the Trust said it did not want to comment at this stage.

Many organisations and groups use the popular centre which originally opened in 1999.

One afternoon in August 2005, people were evacuated from the building after it was attacked by arsonists.

The bar and recreation room were gutted while smoke caused damage throughout the centre.