Calderdale village's councillors get their hands dirty to tidy up gateway to the area

George Robinson, David Kirton and Joe Atkinson, who represent the Hipperholme and Lightcliffe ward, have made the gateway to the area more attractive by clearing an overgrown flowerbed so it can be planted with low-maintenance, colourful plants.

They say residents have raised many concerns about the state of the flowerbed at the junction of Halifax Road and Upper Green Lane, and Calderdale Council originally proposed concreting it over as they said they were not able to commit to maintenance.

The ward councillors objected and have now taken matters into their own hands.

On Sunday (September 17), the trio – along with council officers – cleared the flowerbed of the existing overgrown plants and weeds and made it ready to plant what will be a blue-flowering bush chosen because it needs little maintenance and will hide the weeds.

Councillor Robinson said: ““Thousands of people pass by this flowerbed every day, either as residents of Hove Edge or travelling between different parts of Calderdale, and it could not have been a worse advert for the area – overgrown, unattractive and, frankly, a mess.

“We live in this community, we care about it and so we have taken action to sort this – not by accepting the easy option of concreting it over but by getting our hands dirty, removing the weeds and spending time sourcing a plant which will be both attractive but easy to maintain.

“Thank you to the council for facilitating this work. It demonstrates that by working together, we can do great things.”