A NEW youth and community centre has been officially opened on the site of a former primary school following a three year campaign.

The Green Street School in High Wycombe closed two years ago due to falling pupil numbers and the owners, Buckinghamshire County Council, planned to sell the land and building to a developer to build houses or flats.

But local businessman Munir Hussain stepped in when he heard of the closure plan in 1998 and formed a community action group, called the Green Street Partnership, to look at establishing a community centre on the site.

Mr Hussain said if the site had been developed as housing, the opportunity to build a community centre would have been lost forever.

"This is an area which is devoid of any community facility as well as classified as a high deprivation area," he said.

"I realised that establishing a community centre would be an uphill struggle and the three years seems to have been like 30 years as we have crammed in so much work and effort to convince people in authority that this was desperately needed."

The Green Street Partnership consists of community members as well as representatives from Wycombe district and Bucks county councils.

Last Friday chairman of Wycombe District Council Cllr Bill Jennings cut the ribbon at the centre and said: "I am very pleased that this facility has been secured as there has been a need for a centre such as this in the area."

The Green Street Youth and Community Centre has a full timetable of activities, including English for speakers of other languages which is attended by around 60 women each week, and the Asian Youth Project.