A MAJOR refurbishment of the King's Hall-Winter Garden complex in Ilkley could result from the windfall provided by the sale of Leeds Bradford Airport.

Three million pounds of the money received from the sale of the Leeds-Bradford airport will be shared among the community under new plans by Bradford Council.

Each of the 30 wards in the Bradford district would be allocated £100,000 to spend on community projects which would be chosen by their elected members.

The council owned 40 per cent of the shares of Leeds-Bradford airport and is due to receive £51.5 million when it is sold.

The City Hall executive is expected to rubber stamp the plans for a ward-based investment next Tuesday. The plans will then have to go before the full council in October for ratification.

In Ilkley, Councillor Anne Hawkesworth said that the money could be used for a major refurbishment of the bar areas of the Kings Hall and Winter Garden complex.

She said she would be holding talks with Ilkley's two other district councillors Martin Smith and Colin Powell before a decision is made. Coun Mohammad Masood, the Executive Member for Corporate, said: "This is an exciting and innovative scheme to give one-off funding for every area of the Bradford district.

"We envisage the money will be used for community projects which may have been overlooked under normal circumstances. This might be street lighting, small park areas or improvements to community buildings."

The money allocated would largely be for capital investments that would not need extra funding in the future. Some of the money could be used for revenue projects, and it could be used to attract matching funding for bigger projects.

Councillors would have over the summer to consider the projects they wished to put forward.