An architect’s impression of Steeton’s planned community building has been released by the parish council.

Work began recently on the £200,000 community hub on land next to the village’s bowling green off Skipton Road.

Steeton with Eastburn Parish Council is leading the project with money from a variety of grant bodies as well as its own funds.

The centre has been designed by South Craven architects John and Jennifer Wharton and is being constructed by Keighley builders RN Wooler and Company.

The council this week said the building would replace the existing bowling pavilion on the site.

A spokesman said: “The new facility will provide approximately twice the useable public space and the flexible accommodation will allow more than one group to use the building at any one time.

“The new building will provide a generous foyer area and the whole will be supported by a central tea/snack making facility and modern toilets.

“It will be highly energy-efficient, being insulated to a standard higher than demanded by current building regulations and the whole facility will meet modern expectations of accessibility.”

The project grew out of a parish council survey in 2007, culminating in the Parish Plan.

The spokesman said: “The construction of the hub, providing a central community facility available to all village groups and clubs, will answer more than 70 per cent of the issues raised in the plan.”

Half the funding for the project was raised by the sale of a piece of land which had been donated to the council.

The bulk of the remaining funding comes from environmental bodies WREN and Yorventure, along with grants from the South Pennines LEADER programme, Eastburn engineering company Cinetic Landis Ltd, youth activity group Youth Work, and Bradford Council.

Parish council chairman David Mullen said: “This is the culmination of a lot of hard work by a dedicated group of people. I look forward to the opening of the new building at the end of the year.”

The Keighley News last month revealed that the parish council had been forced to cut back on some of its original plans in order to ensure the building could be constructed with the available funding.