The rapid decline of a depressed, inner city area galvansied residents to join Britain in Bloom & sparked a new community spirit.
Seedley and Langworthy is an inner city area of Salford located in North West England that has experienced severe and rapid decline in recent years, resulting in the area being littered with boarded houses. Many residents left the area for various reasons.
However the greatest asset is the strong community spirit that exists and how the community is working with partners to turn the area around. The Seedley and Langworthy area has benefited from a seven-year regeneration programme, which has helped to create a sustainable community through a range of physical and social programmes.
Seedley and Langworthy Bloom Group, in partnership with Salford City Council, the Seedley and Langworthy Trust and Great Places pioneered the ‘alleygate scheme’. The first alleygating scheme created a safe communal garden for the residents to enjoy, and it has brought the residents together, creating a real feeling of community.
The residents set up regular meetings to plan how to use the alleys in between housing blocks - to turn them from littered, unkept, unsafe areas into beautiful, usable spaces for all, an oasis of calm full of planters and hanging baskets, where the residents enjoy candlelit drinks. The alleys are locked off and transformed with flowers, lights and tables and chairs for socialising, a place where everyone feels safe and takes ownership of the communal space.
Local Bloom organiser Jenny Sowerby said, “The alleygate scheme has brought the community together. Whole streets that didn’t even speak to one another have now become life-long friends, everyone feels safer and proud to live here.”
Seedley and Langworthy won the Urban Regeneration category of Britain in Bloom 2006.