THE £20m Limelight scheme has appointed a cross-generational and multi-faith steering group.

Limelight, the new community health and wellbeing hub based in the heart of Old Trafford, has announced details of the resident-led committee, which will help shape its neighbourhood services and facilities when it opens publicly later this year.

Drawn from across Old Trafford and the wider borough, the eleven-strong group will be responsible for the governance and delivery of Limelight’s strategic priorities in line with the mission and vision of the project.

They will also work closely with the Limelight centre manager David Teasdale, and colleagues from Trafford Housing Trust, who originally commissioned the Limelight scheme, to ensure the smooth and successful running of the hub as an inclusive and accessible space for all.

The committee will be led by Niki Stockton, who has lived in Old Trafford for over 20 years and has extensive experience in managing housing schemes, delivering local services and regenerating neighbourhoods at a senior level.

Niki will be joined by other long standing Old Trafford residents, including Abdul Huy Malek, head teacher at the local Afifah Islamic secondary school, experienced lawyer Charlene Burgundy.

Additional Old Traffordians include Hannah Paterson, who works for the Big Lottery Fund as a learning manager; Sukhbir Singh, an IT and management consultant who works with local charities; Sabera Hafejee, a multi-lingual community interpreter; and Mohammed Adil Javed, an actor and arts specialist, who is director of the local Alchemy Arts youth and community project.

Dora Blake, a senior social housing professional, and Sharon Dempsey, director of an IT Consultancy that specialises in digital, technology and organisational change will also join the team, bringing additional knowledge and skills to the committee.

Two other members of the steering group, Doretta Maynard, an athletic trainer and coach, and Jean-Erica Barrett, a regeneration and housing project management consultant, were both previously involved in Limelight’s original Design Action Groups (DAGs).

Niki Stockton, chair of the Limelight Management Committee, said: “All of the management committee are passionate about Old Trafford, and we are all very proud of the many diverse communities which live and work here.

“Limelight is set to embody this spirit of inclusiveness and collaboration, and both I and my fellow committee members are greatly looking forward to helping make it a truly inspirational, multi-cultural and intergenerational space accessible to all for the benefit of everyone.”