A DRUGS and alcohol charity threatened with closure has had its future secured with a £250,000 grant from the National Lottery.

The charity – One North East London, which is based in The Broadway, Woodford Green – helps adults recover from alcohol and substance abuse problems and has been running for more than 20 years.

Its future was thrown into doubt after it lost an important contract with Waltham Forest Council but thanks to a campaign spearheaded by Chingford and Woodford MP Iain Duncan Smith, the charity has been awarded £244,145 in National Lottery cash.

The charity uses abstinence-based treatment and group therapy, which it offers free of charge to people across Redbridge.

It also runs NE Teens, a programme for young people aged between 12 and 21 whose parents or carers have an alcohol or substance abuse problem, which offers one-to-one counselling both at the centre and at local schools.

According to the charity, 70 percent of the people it helps are still clean of drugs a year after completing their minimum two weeks of treatment.

The charity's business manager Fiona Dunwoodie said: “The funding is vital because without it there is no service. There are no other services in the area at all that provide this kind of support to people living with their addiction.

“I don't think we could have done it without Iain Duncan Smith's support. He's coming in on Friday and he wants to meet the service users, as he does whenever he comes down.

“This money will cover all our costs for the next four years and means we can open our doors to anyone and everyone from all over London.

“We lost our tender to a larger national organisation in April 2008 in Waltham Forest. Then Redbridge council contacted us and said 'please can you set up something over here?'.”

“Demand is constantly increasing, its an epidemic at the moment. Our clients are getting younger, and with so much cross-addiction we decided this year to open our doors to drugs addicts as well.

“Some young people can get stuck on methadone for years – why shouldn't drug addicts be able to have abstinence treatment if they want it?”