"Underfunded" Community Wins £700k Lotto Funding

An area of Leeds that's been chronically underfunded for the last 20 years is today celebrating a huge cash boost.

£700,000 is being spent on a new community centre at New Wortley - it's been given by the Big Lottery Fund.

Bill Graham from the group behind the new facilities says the stats speak for themselves, "People in New Wortley live 12 years less on average than people in Pudsey which is just 3 miles up the road. It's quite a damning statistic on the investment in this area and that's the type of thing that we want to be starting to address.

"It's terrific, but it's much needed and is indicative that there's not been much investment in this community over the past 20 years.

The design process for the centre has been managed by Leeds Beckett University's Project Office - which provides architecture students with a chance to work with real world clients - and has actually been designed by recent graduate Vahagn Mkrtchyan.

Lecturer Simon Warren said, "Leeds Beckett Architecture students will continue to have an input into the Centre alongside the PO, as following further consultation with the Centre’s users, they will be involved in the detailed design of various aspects of the new building. They will also get the opportunity to experience site visits once the building work commences in July.”

Construction should be completed by March 2016.

Maureen Ingham, a New Wortley resident, who is on the Board of the Community Association and is an activist for the area, added: “I have lived in New Wortley for 44 years and became associated with Community Centre when they were planning to build the existing Centre.

"The Centre is a vital part of what continues to be a deprived and neglected area of Leeds. We work with the people of New Wortley through the Centre and we turn people’s lives around. This Big Lottery funding is a huge step in the right direction for us to continue to do the work we do and to progress towards a future where the Centre can be self-funded. It means an awful lot to the community and we could not have achieved this without the help and expertise of Leeds Beckett’s Project Office."