If the Council's executive committee agrees on Wednesday to contribute £137,500 towards an environmental improvement scheme, it will surely be money well spent. The Bradford Community Environmental Project has for the past three years been working to tidy unsightly pockets of land, with the help of money from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Allotments have been improved, boundary walls rebuilt, trees and shrubs have been planted and local people have been encouraged to take part in clean-ups.

Now there are plans to extend the scheme with more ERDF money supplemented by Council cash, to transform those run-down areas of spare land which tend to attract fly-tippers. There is also a plan to set up food co-operatives and allotment projects - an imaginative idea which could help to boost the "back to the land" movement inspired by the popularity of television gardening programmes.

Councillor Latif Darr says the aim is to clean up the district by mounting a blitz on litter and rubbish and to work with local communities so they take a pride in their local environment.

That last point is a very important one. There are too many parts of Bradford, unfortunately, where some residents appear to care very little about the amount of rubbish littering the streets and grassed areas. If they can be persuaded to take part in clean-up and improvement projects, that surely must engender a greater sense of involvement and community spirit.

From that, hopefully, will come a desire to see the place stay clean and tidy - and a greater willingness to report those who spoil it through fly-tipping.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.