OTLEY Courthouse welcomed a special guest to one its creative summer workshops.

MP Alex Sobel (Lab, Leeds North West) visited the arts and resource centre to experience some of the support they offer to the community at first hand.

The venue provides a number of free or reduced cost activities for adults and children, and put on a varied programme of events during the school holidays.

Mr Sobel said: "The Courthouse is a fantastic facility for Otley and offers services for locals* which are becoming increasingly difficult to access across the country.

"Huge cuts to local councils have seen youth, arts and language services decrease all over the UK.

"It is a great testament to the community spirit in Otley that the people have pulled together and made this great facility so accessible."

The MP and his two sons joined other families at a Stop Motion Animation workshop, partially funded by the Courthouse, during the school break.

He said: "Being able to take my boys to this great workshop is just one example of the great services the Courthouse offers to the community.

"It is a great shame that more funding isn’t available for these community projects.

"I will continue to do all that I can to advocate for great community assets such as the Courthouse both locally and in Parliament."

Otley Courthouse Chair, Dave Robson, added: "I am pleased Alex had the opportunity to come down to the Courthouse and see all of our amazing volunteers hard at work, keeping this amazing community project on the go.

"We always offer a school holidays programme as it is important to keep the community active and allow the creative development of both children and adults within Otley.

"We are currently launching our exciting new Autumn / Winter programme of events and planning for the opening of our Otley MakerSpace, which will soon be offering a whole range of new opportunities to people of all ages.

"With all this and more in the pipeline we are delighted to get Alex's support for our work."

The Courthouse receives no funding from central government and is responsible for raising 85 per cent of its costs itself.

*Mr Sobel says Leeds City Council has faced a 47 per cent cut in core funding since 2010 which has led to a reduction in services.