Victims of forced marriages in Bradford will soon have their own helpline and counselling service - thanks to a £268,404 National Lottery grant.

The Our Voice project, part of The Asian Link UK, has been awarded the cash to set up what is thought to be Britain's first specialised unit.

Project founder Saireen Khanum, 29, said parents should be involved in the marriage process but the final choice should lie with their children.

She said: "We are not telling children to disregard their parents' proposals. We want to eliminate the communication gap between a child and their parents.

"Children have to respect their parents but parents must respect their children's wishes, too."

Keighley MP Ann Cryer, a long-term campaigner for such a project, said she was seeing increasing numbers of women who are being forced to marry.

"It is not a case that people are getting more reactionary, it is that girls are getting more assertive and are no longer prepared to put up with what their mothers put up with," she said.

"I wish this project every success. Ideally I would want the law changed to stop these marriages happening in the first place, as they cause so much unhappiness.

"We are not saying parents should not be involved, just that people should only marry who they agree to marry."

West Yorkshire police said its officers deal with about 70 to 100 victims of a forced marriage each year. Often a partner may go missing because they are so desperate to get out of the marriage or domestic violence might occur.

A forced marriage usually takes place abroad where a son or daughter is taken out of the country and then is made to marry someone chosen by their family.

Once back in Britain the relationship falls apart, leaving both partners miserable. Children are often caught up in the conflict.

The Our Voice project, based in Woolston House, Tetley Street, Bradford, is also campaigning against marriages of convenience to obtain UK entry and citizenship rights.

Over the next six months it is hoped to set up the helpline run by eight trained volunteers. It will have two counsellors to offer support for Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims in their own languages.

"Many people go along with the marriages because they love and respect their parents," said Saireen. "But they end up not happy because they know it is not what they really wanted. They feel they have no-one to speak to but we want to say we are here and listening."

Bradford Inspector Martin Baines said: "Police have been working for many years to provide support for victims and much of this work has been ground-breaking. We are now working with local communities to provide support."

l Our Voice - part of The Asian Link UK (TALUK) is looking for extra funding and sponsors. Telephone (01274) 773581.