Skip loads of rubbish were collected in a do-it-yourself clean-up campaign on a Keighley housing estate.

Armed with brushes and shovels, residents of the Nashville Terrace estate spent the weekend clearing garbage.

Housing association Brunel provided three skips and the residents the muscle power to spruce up Shapla Close, Pentland Close, Salisbury Road and Litton Road.

Working party member and mother of three Julie Hurt, of Pentland Close, says: "This is a nice estate and we want to keep it like that. The idea is to nip any litter problems in the bud."

Anne Evans, of Nashville Terrace, adds: "I think it's a great idea. These are nice houses and flats and Brunel and very good. They have provided the skip - I've never know a landlord do that before."

The tenants have formed a residents' group which aims to organise other community activities and set up a youth club for the many youngsters on the estate.

Joanne Bowles, Brunel's housing officer in Keighley, says the clean-up project followed a similar scheme by Brunel tenants in Bradford. "This is seen as the first step towards encouraging tenants to take pride in their neighbourhood and take part in community-focussed initiatives," she says.

She says there are future plans for the estate including new fencing, the establishment of a neighbourhood watch scheme and a possible shared caretaker with the Manningham Housing Association which has a number of properties on the estate. "I hope this will be the start of a thriving tenants' group that will take more steps to improve both the appearance and spirit in the area," she adds.

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