Luton group set up to clean and tidy is 'transforming' the town

Clean-up groups have sprung up all across Luton since they started in May

A community group set up to tidy and clean a town is "transforming" it, one of its organisers has said.

Kevin Poulton co-created Asset Based Community Development (ABCD)-in-Luton in May as a hobby, to recruit volunteers to spruce up part of the Capability Green area.

It now operates across 15 wards and involves about 500 residents.

"When it stated we didn't expect anything; we've been taken aback by how quickly it's grown," he said.

Kevin Poulter and co-founder Phyl Rainey started ABCD-in-Luton at the end of May and said it had "massively improved" the town

The group, working in conjunction with Luton Borough Council, facilitates people who want to improve where they live by providing equipment and arranging for waste to be collected.

So far more than 1,950 bags of rubbish and six trucks of green waste have been taken away.

"The dial is moving where residents are doing more for themselves with the council supporting. This has to be the future model," Mr Poulton said.

"I'm very proud that so many people in Luton want to show pride in where they live and share their passion - it's empowering them."

Deniece Dobson and Anna Capasso have helped clean up the Marsh Farm area of Luton since the summer

Deniece Dobson said her neighbourhood, Marsh Farm, had been supported by ABCD-in-Luton, with several clean-ups taking place.

She said it had "brought people together - I met neighbours I didn't know had lived there for years".

"Many people have told me that it has done loads to reduce their loneliness - make them feel connected," she added.

Martin Rogers got a bit wet when he helped tidy up Luton

Mr Poulton said you could really see the difference as "people can now walk down places that have been cut back, the town is looking better, it's improved".

"It brings the community together and a sense of pride about caring where you live," he said.

"Rather than sit about complaining, get out and do something."

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Anna Capasso, 85, from Luton, said she had been left "so happy" by the work.

"I was sometimes ashamed when family visited as the outside was so dirty and I couldn't clean it," she said.

Denmark Close in Marsh Farm, Luton, before and after a big clean-up