A community organisation is on the verge of buying a successful business centre in the heart of Manningham for around £1 million.
The purchase of Carlisle Business Centre from Bradford Council will bring a ten-year dream to fruition for the community enterprise running it.
Action For Business Ltd was born after a group of entrepreneurs met because they were unhappy about the lack of support for businesses and the community in the area.
ABL has been operating the centre on behalf of the Council for seven years since it opened but will go it alone as soon as the deal is signed up.
The business centre now has nearly 100 offices, workshops, stalls, craft units and conference and training facilities for rent and hire. They are let out to small private businesses and community and voluntary organisations.
The former redundant mill, where tenants can rent high-quality affordably- priced premises, was redeveloped in 1996 when Manningham was seen as a 'no-go' area for many people.
The £4 million redevelopment, funded by the Government and local authority, was visited by the Prince of Wales, before its official opening by the Duke of Gloucester.
ABL chairman Gwyn Jones said: "Although the struggle to acquire the Carlisle Business Centre has at times proved somewhat torturous, with intermittent feelings of deflation and elation, I am confident that our commitment and our determined endeavour to pursue our passionate goal will shortly culminate in the announcement that we have finally acquired the centre.''
Chief executive Gurdev S Dahele MBE said the project would be one of only a handful of its type in Britain if the sale went ahead.
"Even the Government is now saying community organisations should start delivering services because they know better than anyone else how to make communities sustainable.'' The funding is expected to include bank loans and a mortgage from the Council and the details are still being finalised.
ABL has pledged to continue to help: businesses to start up to create employment and to train more people; establish a learning centre in partnership with a mainstream training organisation such as City Training Services and Bradford College; work with schools and community organisations to improve their activities; support Manningham and Girlington Single Regeneration Budget Partnership to develop plans for work to continue after the scheme ends.
Mr Jones said community organisations like ABL could take on a positive role in community regeneration but needed to have assets and be able to generate income which could then be invested in the community.
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