15 June 2012 Last updated at 05:07 ET

Funding boost for St Martin's community centre

A new community centre will be built on St Martin's

A new community centre on the Isles of Scilly is to be given £500,000 of government funding.

Defra has awarded the money to the residents on St Martin's after a 12 year fundraising campaign.

The announcement coincides with the visit of minister Lord Taylor of Holbeach later on Friday.

He will be meeting business leaders and members of the rural community to discuss how Cornwall is coping with the economic downturn.

Lord Taylor said: "It is important that we invest properly in communities such as here on the Isles of Scilly.

"Yesterday I saw the community centre of Bryher which was similarly supported."

The minister will listen to the concerns of people on Scilly during his visit.

Bert Biscoe, the chairman of the Rural Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Partnership, said: "We really need to be encouraging Defra to engage itself in production land use strategies.

"It's got to be a balanced approach to land use so we've got enough land nationally to produce the food we need to produce in order to sustain a quality of life."