A call has been made to create a new community centre on the site of two schools which will close as part of Bradford's education shake-up.

The idea is just one suggestion in a report by the Dudley Hill Community Consortium which is working to improve the area.

In April last year the DHCC was set up bringing together the Longfield Drive residents' Association, the Youth Empowerment Independent and other groups linked via committee membership to the consortium.

Its aim as a "people's consortium" is to make the district a better place in which to live and improve youth facilities.

The report will be presented at a public meeting in the Dudley Hill & Tong Socialist Club on Wednesday, March 8, which Bradford councillors and professional youth workers have also been asked to attend.

In it the DHCC suggests its members take over the running of either all or part of Dudley Hill First School and Lorne Street First School after they close this summer.

The buildings would become the base for the Dudley Hill Community Centre without the need to find the cash to build a new centre.

At present the consortium, like many other groups in the community, does not have a permanent meeting place and has to use the Dudley Hill & Tong Socialist Club as a temporary base.

DHCC worker Peter Softly said: "The aim of the meeting is to adopt a multi-agency approach in helping the DHC to develop facilities for community use in the area.

"We feel that Dudley Hill is over-industrialised and under-resourced in terms of community provision and these are the issues which are highlighted in the report.

"We are determined that the meeting is a positive one and does not develop into a moan-fest."

The report also suggests an extension of the park built by the North British Housing Association on Longfield Drive and the building of a five-a-side football pitch and/or basketball court on the land.

It highlights the plight of Dudley Hill Rangers Football Club which runs from Lowerfields School but is struggling to meet the cost of hiring pitches, which runs into the thousands of pounds each year.

The report warns the club is being "financially crippled" by the charges.

Anyone who wants to have their say at the meeting should come to the Socialist Club in Sticker Lane, Dudley Hill. at 7.30pm on Wednesday, March 8.

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