Two Bradford community projects have won praise in a national report on disadvantaged groups tackling environmental issues.

The report, called An Environment For Everyone, highlights the under-involvement of disadvantaged groups in environmental issues.

But the Bangladeshi Porishad and Gardening For Health community projects in Bradford are cited in the report for successfully bucking this trend by involving local Bangladeshi women in healthy gardening schemes. The Gardening For Health project, run by Saltaire's Heartsmart group, involved Bradford's population of Bangladeshi women keeping allotments in Queen's Road, Bradford.

Diane Moody, manager of Heartsmart group, said: "The project has been really successful. The whole idea is about working with Bangladeshi women around issues of health, reducing isolation, exercise and healthy eating.

"In Bangladesh women would usually have an allotment to grow food, but in Bradford these skills have been lost over time."

Community environment worker Jane Robinson, who worked on the gardening project, said she had seen the benefits it has brought.

She said: "It's been great. These women don't get out much They tend to live in small communities and are limited in their opportunities.

"At first the women could only work for 15 or 20 minutes and they would be exhausted but now they keep working for full two-hour sessions, so you can see the benefits of exercise."

The Heartsmart group hopes the project will help reduce the high rates of heart disease found in the Bangladeshi population, often thought to be related to poor economic conditions.

A major conclusion of the report is that a disadvantaged neighbourhood's environment and quality of life should be considered as important as its economic situation during any regeneration programme.

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