Centre bids for £500,000 Lottery cash (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Centre bids for £500,000 Lottery cash

4:29pm Monday 1st September 2008 in

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Plans for a community centre with solar panels, a wind turbine and a plant-lined roof are a step closer after a £500,000 bid was submitted to Lottery chiefs.

The centre in Cliffe Avenue, Baildon, is expected to cost around £1.25 million and community leaders have now sent off proposals for the new centre to the funding body.

Work on the new building could start as early as August next year if the Lottery bid is successful.

Lucy Maddison, centre manager for Baildon Link, said: “We have got good local support from residents, businesses and local councillors and it’s just full steam ahead now.

“It will take up to six months for the Lottery to get back to us, so we should find out by the end of February or the beginning of March whether it is a successful bid.

“We understand that there is an 80 per cent chance of success. Those are very high odds, so we are very optimistic.”

Bradford Council has already agreed to pay £750,000 towards the major project, which is expected to be a local landmark and one of the first “green” community buildings of its kind in the country.

It includes a roof with plants, to reduce the amount of water flowing into drains and to retain vegetation for wildlife.

Energy-saving features include solar panels to heat water and generate electricity, a natural and controllable ventilation system and a wind turbine.

The plans were put together thanks to an initial Lottery bid of £24,090.

The proposal includes demolishing the community link building, which was originally built as a temporary decontamination centre during the Second World War, to make way for the new centre, designed by York-based specialist architects Eco Arc.

Bradford Council approved proposals at a meeting in July, and the site of the previous building will be turned into green land for the use of Baildon residents. The building could provide an estimated ten per cent more accommodation for community activities than the current building.

Miss Maddison, also a community worker at the current Baildon Link, said: “We received the news of the award for the £24,000 funding just before Christmas, so we have been preparing the latest bid for a few months now.

“If we get the funding, then we will be hoping to appoint building contractors in June and we will be hoping to start on the site in August 2009.”

e-mail: marc.meneaud@telegraphandargus.co.uk