A MYSTERIOUS benefactor has come forward and bought the site for Cowling's proposed new community centre as part of a £200,000 interest-free loan to the village.

The former Royd Mill, on Colne Road, was chosen as the ideal site for the new centre.

But villagers feared housing developers could snap it up before they got their hands on any money to buy it themselves.

Now a backer has come forward and offered to buy the site, and it is understood that the offer has been accepted by agents Dacre, Son and Hartley.

The site will be held until money from grant bodies comes in to pay back the loan.

The project group, set up to steer the scheme forward, can now apply for planning permission and grant aid from the National Lottery.

But at the public meeting in the village on Tuesday, Cowling residents were urged to start fundraising and show their support for the idea.

Caroline Stockwell-Brown, from the Yorkshire Rural Community Council, warned that unless villagers joined in, grant bodies might not be so forthcoming with cash for the project.

"What you're showing by fundraising is that you're determined to get this hall," she said.

"If you're sending a message that you don't care enough to do something then the lottery's going to back out. It's not the amount of money you raise, it's the fact that you've got commitment towards this project.

"When it comes down to it, the lottery only has a certain amount of money and you've got to make certain that Cowling is at the top of the list."

The community centre is being built to replace the existing village hall, which is in a bad state of repair.

A survey of villagers found that 65 per cent favoured building on the Royd Mill site which became vacant when a business moved out.

The survey also revealed that Cowling folk wanted some kind of health centre in the new building, as well as a library, coffee bar and computer facilities.

Architect Richard Pearson, who is working in partnership with Paul Foxley to design the building, unveiled the layout of the proposed new hall.

"The key to our vision was that this site is actually the centre of the village and not just a community centre," he said.

Project group chairman Coun Irene Greaves outlined how the idea had progressed and what lay ahead.

"It has to be something that keeps going endlessly and has to be self financing," she said.

"We're very positive about this. We're not playing at this - this is serious stuff.

"In our lottery bid we need to make sure that they know that we have the backing of the people of Cowling and we can only do that if we can show that people have started fundraising."