Riddlesden War Memorial Institute has won funds to build a fishing platform in front of its building.

The platform will allow disabled anglers to safely fish on the banks of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal The institute hopes it will also attract other new users, including canoeists and cyclists. They could use the Institute’s recently-improved car park and facilities in the refurbished building.

The fishing platform will be built with a £15,000 grant from Bradford Council’s Keighley Area Comm-ittee. The strengthened decking will have clamps to secure wheelchairs.

The platform is the latest part of an improvement programme at the 90-year-old institute, which is near the Bar Lane canal bridge. The volunteer management committee has already improved the drive and is developing a path and garden.

Committee spokesman Ron Beaumont said the building itself had benefited from disabled access, new toilets, guttering and roof. He said future plans included tackling the overgrown rear of the building and aiding conservation.

A new hedge by Scott Lane will act as a “wildlife-friendly barrier”, allowing small animals through. In the longer term the institute wants to refurbish the tennis courts, demolish the old clubhouse and provide a new sports court.

Mr Beaumont said: “It’s a big project.”

The institute committee was supported in its search for cash for the fishing platform by Councillor Steve Pullen.

He said: “They have a whole lot of ideas and I tried to point them in the right direction.”

Cllr Pullen said it was part of a campaign to get local community buildings “fit for purpose”.