Flowers to bloom on cleared HMR sites

Empty land in Abbotsford Road, Derker, will be planted with flowers

WASTELANDS where new homes should be rising from the ground will be growing flowers instead.

The end of Housing Market Renewal (HMR) funding means that recent demolition sites will stay empty for the foreseeable future.

But as part of Bloom and Grow 2011 — Oldham’s entry into the North-West in Bloom awards — derelict sites will get a summer splash of colour.

New wildflower meadows are being planted in vacant areas between Westminster Street and Yates Street, and Abbotsford Road and Vulcan Street.

The idea is to add colour and encourage wildlife to the area within a new green corridor.

Oldham Council says locally-sourced annual seeds and plants will be used.

Schools and sheltered accommodation tenants are already signed up to assist with the first planting work this week.

Leaflets will also encourage local people to get involved.

Councillor Jackie Stanton, deputy leader of Oldham Council, who lives in the area, said: “Bloom and Grow is all about community engagement and environmental sustainability — this project is an excellent example of delivering both.

“The end of HMR funding has left some derelict unsightly spaces in Derker which we know that residents want to see improved.

“These wildflower meadows will provide a healthier environment and improve the quality of life for the whole community.

“A new wildlife site can also be used by local schoolchildren for educational purposes in learning to appreciate biodiversity that the species of plants and flowers will attract, such as butterflies and bees.

“The meadows will be in flower by July this year and are just one of several initiatives that we have planned as Bloom and Grow extends outwards this year into East Oldham.”

But London Road resident Maureen Walsh, founder member of the Derker Action Group which opposed the demolitions, said: “It makes me sad.

“I just look at the land and it is where people should still be living, not flowers. It is where the community was.”