Fly-tipping hotspot becomes community garden

Neighbours in Temple Street with volunteers celebrating the opening of the new community garden

A fly-tipping hotspot that left residents "fed up" with littering has been transformed into a community garden.

Children from Manningham helped adult volunteers to remove rubbish and install planters, artwork and benches on a patch of land in the Bradford suburb.

They also did questionnaires with neighbours about what they wanted to see the space on Temple Street become.

Mukhtar Rehman, from the Lister Community Action Group which led the project, said: “This shows that when communities come together, they can create beautiful spaces. This is a perfect example of that.”

Rubbish and abandoned cars have been replaced with benches and planters where flowers and vegetables are grown

Brothers Sebastian and Kevin Hollov, aged nine and eight, were among the children who led the junior citizens’ efforts to create Temple Street Community Garden.

Sebastian said: “Every single day when they (the older volunteers) showed up, I would say, 'do you need help?'

“When it was dirty in the morning, we cleaned up everything. When it was all finished, they thanked us. It makes me feel very happy."

Kevin added: "I helped because if our street doesn't look nice, how should people live nicely? There was lots of rubbish in Temple Street and the cars couldn’t get past.

“Now it looks nice with all the flowers."

Eight-year-old Zainab Hussain said she was also proud of how the street now looked.

“It makes me excited. I really want to live here,” she said.

Mr Rehman, who previously ran a similar project in another part of Manningham, said residents from other streets had approached them to help, adding that young people like Kevin and Sebastian “have been fantastic”.

“They've been with us from the very beginning. In fact, the initial consultation was led by them. They organised the sessions, led the cleaning, the planting, and even contributed to the artwork behind me. They were involved in absolutely everything."

Zenub Mahmood, the action group's chair, said the project was about connecting people of all ages.

“We’re a powerful community when we work together. Anyone can do it in any community. It shows that we care, and it improves mental health and wellbeing. I work as a nurse, so this brings me so much joy and happiness."

The group also holds regular bulb-planting sessions at spaces it has helped to rejuvenate.

Treasurer Ifrat Ahmed added: “The idea is to improve the outlook of the street, but also encourage families to bring out their children, spend time together outdoors, learn about planting and growing, and use what they plant to make food at home.

"There were parked and abandoned cars, fly-tipping, and all sorts of rubbish. Now residents have a space where they can sit, enjoy the artwork, and have a nicer experience living here."

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