For five years residents whose homes backed onto a grotty, rubbish-strewn alleyway lovingly and painstakingly transformed it into green and pleasant communal garden.
They cleared the fly-tipping, planted wild flowers, shrubs and fruit trees to grow apples and pears, and even cultivated a mature grape vine with the aim of creating their own speciality wine.
Hedgehogs, bats and other wildlife soon made the garden their home, which was also used for neighbourhood get togethers and children’s parties.
So, imagine the residents’ horror when, on Friday, they returned home from work to discover men in high-vis jackets had ripped up their beautiful green space without warning and obliterated all their hard work.
Local designer Tom Marrett, 37, who kickstarted the project, in Levenshulme, Manchester, in 2021, said he was left ‘speechless’ when he went into the alleyway to put his bins out on Friday evening to find it had been destroyed.
In a post on Facebook he accused the workmen of being ‘short-sighted and heavy-handed’, saying: ‘I was genuinely speechless to find that our alleyway garden had been completely flattened.
‘We had hedgehogs, bats and countless other insects and birds using this space.
‘This wasn’t just a patch of weeds. It was an established little ecosystem as well as a genuinely valuable green space for the people living around it.
‘This feels like an absolute act of vandalism, (it’s) short-sighted, heavy-handed and completely lacking in respect for the people and wildlife affected.’
The community garden in an alleyway in Levenshulme, Manchester, was ripped up and destroyed by workmen with strimmers on Friday
Residents and local councillors were not warned that any work would be taking place
Parts of the alleyway garden had been left untouched but plants, including fruit trees and a grapevine, in a large 30m section were destroyed
Neighbours reported seeing workmen with strimmers removing plants on a 30-metre stretch of the alleyway on Friday, although it is still not clear exactly who they were working for or who instructed them to carry out the work.
Local councillors Basat Sheikh, executive member for neighbourhoods, and Zahid Hussain, who sit on Manchester City Council, said they had asked senior officers to investigate, adding the clearance ‘should never have happened’.
Mr Marrett, described the destruction of the garden, which runs behind homes between Stanhope Street, Gordon Avenue and Delamere Road, as a ‘catastrophe’ and ‘cultural vandalism’.
He told the BBC that four households were closely involved in cultivating the alleyway, while around 15 other residents helped occasionally.
The group had even managed to secure grants totalling about £1,800 in public money from the city council’s Neighbourhood Investment Fund to pay for plants, timber, picnic tables, tools and protective equipment, Mr Marrett said.
He estimated that at least £500 worth of plants had been cleared, which he said was an ‘extraordinary waste of public resources’.
Although some raised planters elsewhere had been left untouched, Mr Marrett added that it was hard to put a figure on the amount of ‘time and effort’ also lost.
Resident Dylan Leggett, 28, said he ‘couldn’t imagine’ why the council would want to remove the plants.
‘It’s most likely it was some sort of communication issue and the workmen who turned up just thought they were doing their job,’ he said.
‘But it’s very sad what’s happened.
‘I moved here in June last year. The garden has been used for street parties and other events where people have brought along nice food.
‘It was a brilliant way of making connections with local people and building a sense of community.’
A woman, who didn’t want to be named, said she had been active in getting people involved with maintaining the garden.
‘The garden was beautiful,’ she said.
‘But the workmen just turned up with their strimmers one day and ruined it.
‘It’s like they didn’t know anything about plants or the environment and have acted like waste disposal workers.’
Ironically, residents had received a council leaflet days before the clearance encouraging people to ‘take ownership’ of alleyways and transform them into communal areas.
In a joint statement, Mr Sheikh and Mr Hussain said they were ‘deeply saddened and appalled’ after visiting the site and speaking to residents.
They said neither of them had been informed of, or authorised, any clearance work.
The councillors said they had asked senior officers at the council to establish exactly who authorised the work, why residents were not consulted, and why planting and community facilities were removed.
Both also called for the council to support residents in restoring the garden and to take steps to prevent other alleys being cleared without proper consultation.
Residents are planning to set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds to rebuild the garden.
