MP backs community centre bid for £14.6m pool fund

An MP has called for funding from a scrapped leisure centre to be invested into a derelict community facility.

The Greenwood Centre, in Swain House, has been empty for many years and has become a target for vandalism and arson.

Now Bradford East MP Imran Hussain has called on the council, which owns the building, to use funding from the cancelled Squire Lane leisure centre to redevelop the building.

Hussain said the building had "become a persistent source of concern for local residents and the emergency services, with repeated incidents of anti-social behaviour and risks to public safety".

The Squire Lane scheme was scrapped by the council's Reform UK executive earlier this year, leaving the council with £14.6m of government funding to spend on other projects in the District.

The council had initially claimed the money was not available to use on other projects but was forced to U-turn after Shipley MP Anna Dixon produced a letter from the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government stating it could be spent elsewhere.

Hussain called for the Greenwood Centre to be transformed into a youth and community hub, providing educational and skills programmes, family support, community services and health and wellbeing provision.

"The Greenwood Centre is standing empty and deteriorating in the heart of Swain House while local young people are left without the facilities, support and positive opportunities they desperately need. That is completely unacceptable," said Hussain.

"Regenerating the centre would bring a damaged community asset back into use and provide a safe, modern hub serving young people, families and residents across the area."

Hussain added he had asked the council to fund feasibility work and meet him to take this proposal forward.

Although the centre is owned by Bradford Council, it is leased to community interest company Inspired Neighbourhoods on a long-term basis, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Inspired Neighbourhoods announced plans to refurbish the building in 2024 but there has been little movement since. This summer Bradford Council said it would be urging Inspired Neighbourhoods to surrender its lease.

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.