A KEIGHLEY group has acted swiftly to reassure users following complaints about the way it runs its community centre.

The Bangladeshi Community Association (BCA) last week called a meeting with key parties after rumours spread around the Knowle Park neighbourhood.

BCA officials set out how they had responded to complaints from residents, which centred on openness and accountability.

Community figures this week expressed support for the association following meetings between its officials and Bradford Council officers.

District councillor Abid Hussain said he had spoken to many individuals and groups, who all said they supported the association.

He added: “The BCA has been doing an excellent job – it is working with the whole community.”

And well-known community activist, Charlie Bhowmick, who was given an MBE for his interfaith work, also backed the centre’s leadership.

He said: “I have had the honour to know these people since 1974.”

The BCA, formerly the Bangladeshi Youth Organisation, has run the community centre in Kensington Street for many years.

The centre caters for both Keighley’s Bangladeshi community and people of all cultures living in the surrounding Holycroft, Knowle Park and Lund Park areas.

The BCA receives £6,324 a year from Bradford Council to cover centre running costs, and provides more than 20 activities each week, including advice sessions, a toddler group, health sessions, work club, youth club and cooking, literacy and sewing classes.

The recent protests were led by Keighley resident Mohammed JunJun Miah, who demanded to see the association’s constitution and membership, and claimed the association was not accountable to the community at large. An online petition, which attracted 104 names, called for a change in the management team. Protesters also demonstrated outside the centre.

Mr Miah and fellow campaigners put their concerns to Keighley MP Kris Hopkins, who passed the petition to Bradford Council.

During the reassurance meeting last week, BCA vice-chairman Fatefor-Ali Ruf gave detailed information about how the organisation was run. He said committee members served three-year terms, and were elected during annual meetings.

The organisation’s accounts can be accessed by the public on the Charity Commission website, and names of management committee members are on the BCA’s own website.

Mr Ruf said: “We try to run a professional organisation. We have to go through procedures.”