I

t was largely in response to the findings of Bradford Congress - an independent panel set up to look at the causes of the Manningham riots in 1995 - that it was decided a massive injection of cash was needed to try to tackle the area's dire problems.

The Congress report painted a picture of deprived and desperate families who had lost hope and felt their needs were ignored.

Teenagers left schools with few or no qualifications and almost one in three was unemployed.

Youths hung about the litter-strewn streets with nothing to do, drug abuse was rife and Congress believed frustration and resentment ignited a fuse which was ready to explode.

The Manningham and Girlington SRB award was welcomed - but it was far less than the £17 million the Council and community had hoped for.

As a result it was recognised from day one that the partnership board set up to administer the Single Regeneration Budget funding had a tough task ahead.

The ambitious targets included improving achievement in schools whose results were less than half the national average. The seven-year programme was meant to reduce the huge unemployment among young people and cut serious crime, which they realised was linked with drugs.

The funding was meant to help local businesses create more jobs, and get young people involved in improving the area.

Many of the aims have been achieved and the remaining funding will be used to fund smaller projects and keep existing ones going.

But, on the downside, people still living in sub-standard houses on low incomes say nothing has changed.

Residents say they still fear the streets where young men congregate and drugs are a major problem.

And worst of all, rioters again stormed the area in a night of violence last July when some 300 police were injured.

So where do the Manningham and Girlington areas go from here?

Jake Piergies, who has been chief executive of the Manningham and Girlington SRB partnership, said the benefits of the achievements would not be seen overnight.

He said: "We won't be twiddling our thumbs for the next three years.

"I am looking at other funding streams and we are monitoring our other projects closely and working on sustainability.

"A lot of excellent work has been done, but it is much bigger than the resources we have."

Zulficar Ali, the newly-elected chairman of the partnership board, echoed those views and added: "We don't want to be forgotten for the next three years.

"We received Bradford's smallest SRB award and it wasn't enough because we have the highest needs. But now we want to look at physical improvement.

"We want to see how we can work with the Council on housing regeneration. We would like to be involved in Manningham Mills."

He said the board and community representatives would now meet to discuss the way ahead.

Mohammed Amran, formerly Britain's youngest racial equality commissioner, said he believed the SRB delivery had been affected by a lack of continuity throughout. He pointed out that its former chief executive Stephen Boyle had moved to a similar scheme in Liverpool and changes of chairmanship.

And Mohammed Ajeeb, formerly Bradford's and Britain's first Asian Lord Mayor, said many people living in the area have the impression that nothing has been achieved with the funding because they see no visible impact.

"What they received for regeneration was small money these days given the size and magnitude of the issues," he said.

"It was made clear at the time that the funding was for youth facilities, education and training. But I think the board should have communicated with the community more effectively."