Streets cleaned as 300 volunteers lend a hand
RESIDENTS JOIN IN TO IMPROVE LOOK OF THEIR AREA
Environment editor AROUND 300 clean-up volunteers descended on an area whose high street was recently named as the least attractive shopping location in Britain.
Shields Road in Byker, Newcastle, was said to be the “least vital” by retail property specialist Harper Dennis Hobbs, according to the firm’s 2017 Vitality Rankings of 1,000 shopping centres around the UK.
But, on Friday, Byker was given a boost in a Big Clean Up drive involving volunteers and representatives from Newcastle City Council’s communities team, environmental charity Groundwork, Sage, Your Homes Newcastle and the Byker Old Town Partnership. The Old Town district is bounded by Union Road, Welbeck Road, Grace Street and Roman Road.
The venture to improve the local environment was co-ordinated by Groundwork South Tyneside and Newcastle (STAN), partnered by Sage, one of the region’s largest employers, to deliver a day of community volunteering in and around the Scarborough Court area of Byker.
Groundwork is currently working with the Byker Old Town Partnership to hold weekly volunteering sessions for residents to help them improve their area.
The Sage volunteering day, involving more than 250 employees, was aimed at kick-starting the project and encouraging more residents to join in.
Nick Kemp, city council cabinet member for neighbourhoods and regulatory services, said: “This partnership event is all about community, showing how people from the business community can join forces with local residents, groups, organisations and the council to help improve the upkeep of the environment. On a daily basis, we have to