Two-thousand tonnes of peat - dug up to make way for the Bingley relief road - is being snapped up by green-fingered residents.

The jet black sedge peat was removed during the construction of the near-complete £48 million road which stretches from Crossflatts to Cottingley Bar.

And gardeners are ordering it by the tonne from Woodbank Nursery, in Harden Road, Harden, near Bingley, which is the nursery for ACW garden centre, in Canal Road.

Nursery director Michael Walmsley said the company bought the material from road-builders Amec. "It's recycling in a way as peat from Bingley is going back into Bingley," he said.

"It's environmentally-friendly peat as it was developed naturally. It's been selling really well.

"It's a high-quality peat which will do wonders for your garden and make it look like a million dollars because of its black colour. It had to be dug up anyway, so by selling it on it's helping to protect other areas from being dug up unnecessarily."

Mr Walmsley said because it was naturally packed for thousands of years it contained composted timber and rock.

"It's ideal for plants that are acid lovers, such as rhododendron, azaleas and heathers, and it's also weed-free," he said.

The peat is on sale at £40 a tonne, which is an approximate weight depending on the dampness of the weather, and deliveries are of up to four tonnes.

"It's a bargain as well, because the peat we normally buy in to make compost is £115 a tonne, so customers are getting a good deal," said Mr Walmsley.

Staff at the nursery dug a massive hole to store the peat which was grassed over. As orders are made, the material is dug up.

A spokesman for Amec said the peat was removed from sections throughout the whole of the three-mile road. Other peat removed was re-used within the project which is due to open before the end of the year.