Bradford Council for Mosques has teamed up with two schools to develop a purpose-built community centre, funded with grants totalling nearly £700,000.

The Council for Mosques has been awarded £419,735 from the European Regional Development Fund and £260,000 from the Neighbour-hood Renewal Fund towards the purpose-built centre. The cash has funded two development workers and at least ten more jobs will be created.

The Council for Mosques currently meets in a small centre on Great Horton Road, running classes on subjects such as accident prevention, art, aromatherapy, gardening and health education.

The new building will extend the services and provide training for young people, with the aim of getting them into employment.

It has been granted planning permission, and a site - Spencer Field in Great Horton - has been earmarked.

Work is due to start in July and should be completed by February next year.

Now the Council for Mosques is working in partnership with Farnham and Grange primary schools to provide facilities for PE lessons.

"The focus of this whole project is regeneration of the community," said centre manager Saleem Khan.

"There is high unemployment in this area and one of the main things we're working on is training people in different skills and helping them find work.

"We'll also be helping older people re-train.

"Facilities will be available to the whole community. Children at the two partnership schools will be able to use the sports hall and outdoor facilities during the day, and they'll be available to community groups in the evenings.

"We've done a lot of public consultation on this project and the feedback has been very positive."

Another focus of the new centre will be improving the local environment.

The Council for Mosques has received £70,000 from Bradford Environmental Action Trust for a green project called Keep it Clean, encouraging people to recycle.

The centre is working with schools and religious organisations to spread the message, and teams of volunteers are responsible for their streets, encouraging neighbours to recycle waste and smarten up the area.