A revamped fishing lake designed to accommodate people with disabilities is being officially opened by Shipley MP Philip Davies.
Mr Davies, will visit the site at Cottingley New Road on Friday 8 June and meet staff from the Environment Agency, Bradford Council’s Adoption and Fostering Unit and Cannons Health Club.
The health club has loaned the site to help the Adoption and Fostering Unit find somewhere for youngsters and adults to fish.
But the lake needed a lot of refurbishment and the Environment Agency has used money collected from rod licence sales to fund improvements to open up the fishery in this urban area.
Work done has included installing a pathway around the lake, building fishing platforms where people in wheelchairs can fish in safety, and free advice on how to manage the lake’s fish stocks.
Environment Agency fisheries officer Pete Turner said: “Urban fisheries such as this are an asset to the community because it means that people wanting to fish don’t have to travel far to enjoy the sport.
“They’re easy for families to get to without having to spend money on petrol or public transport and so we were more than happy to help improve the promote this important leisure facility in Cottingley.”
Sarah Patrick, Adoption and Fostering Unit Manager, said: “We have run a fishing club for a number of years for looked after children, adopted children and those whose parents are adopters or foster carers. This has proved to be immensely popular, so this new resource is very welcome.”
Shipley MP Philip Davies will visit the site to perform the official opening. The Conservative MP is a member of House of Commons Select Committee for Culture, Media and Sport.
He said: “This is a tremendous new facility at Cottingley which will benefit many people locally. I am incredibly grateful to the Environment Agency, Cannons and Bradford Council for all their hard work together to bring this project to fruition.”