SOUTHAMPTON could lose out to Portsmouth if the ambitious proposals for the Sports Centre in Bassett fall through.

UK Athletics have earmarked Southampton for an Indoor Regional Performance Centre - including an 82 metre running straight.

Estimated to cost £3 million, a large chunk would come from the National Lottery Sports Fund with the City Council topping up the rest.

Plans also include the ski slope being extended, a golf driving range introduced and a new circuit for Southampton's cyclists, who lost their old one when the athletics track was upgraded.

But UK Athletics have hinted that if they cannot press ahead in Southampton, they may look to their rival city instead.

Dave Young, operations manager, said he was aware of objections to the Southamp-ton proposals from local residents.

He said: "We're sticking with Southamp-ton as our preferred location. We consider it to be the best place for a south coast facility which will serve the region.

"If it did fall through, it's possible we would have to consider somewhere else like Portsmouth, but that is nowhere near happening yet.

"Southampton has been chosen because of its past record and the willingness of the City Council to support it."

Controversially, Southampton City Council have floated an idea to lease a couple of pockets of land for housing development to raise money for the project.

That has sparked a furore among local residents who object to having houses built on public, open space and point out that the Centre was designed for recreational as well as sports purposes.

There are two blocks of land identified in the report - the former council nursery near Red Lodge School and, more controversially, the land fronting Coxford Road, which includes part of the golf course.

Waiting in the wings are Portsmouth, a city which has long-strived to become a regional sports centre, with the Mountbatten Centre, home for the Hampshire Athletics Champion-ships, integral to that dream.

The Pitt Street regional gymnastics centre is just around the corner from the Stamshaw facility. Portsmouth is also home to one of the country's top swimming club, Ports-mouth Northsea.

The city council have been heavily lobbied to develop a 50-metre Olympic-size swimming pool in Portsmouth, and a site close to the Mountbatten Centre has been earmarked as a possible contender.

Portsmouth are in a prime position to strike if Southampton fail to take their chance.