Blaze of colour hides eyesore

CARS parked on the Jesperson Street site

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WASTELAND on St Mary’s has been turned into a wildlife meadow.

Blue Coat School pupils were involved in transforming the plot next to Jesperson Street, Horsedge Street and St Mary’s Way after a planned housing development fell though.

Work had been due to start in March, 2008, on an eco-homes estate of 121 apartments and 71 houses.

However, builder Gleeson pulled out and for a long time the land was used as a free car park after the previous deck-access flats were demolished.

The council says that derelict sites awaiting regeneration or landscaping are an eyesore and become a magnet for flytipping and anti-social behaviour.

A way of preventing this is covering them with soil and grass or wildflowers.

Blue Coat pupils are also working on a sculpture for the St Mary’s land which their school overlooks.

Sara Hewitt, a regeneration officer with Oldham Council, said any housing development could be two or three years off.

She added: “The wildflower meadow is a temporary thing. It keeps the area looking reasonable.”

Chief Supt Caroline Ball, head of Oldham Police, also welcomed the move, saying: “Where you get a grot spot I can guarantee crime will go up.”