Neighbours joined forces to clear up an overgrown outdoor communal area beside their homes.

A team of 70 volunteers celebrated with afternoon tea and cakes on Monday afternoon after clocking up 400 hours of their spare time transforming Mead Place, in Berry Place, Mill End.

Work involved clearing overhanging trees and undergrowth, creating seated areas with benches, installing gates and fencing, moving and updating laundry drying areas, providing covered bike stores and constructing new bin storage areas.

Nicola Ponsford, who has lived at Mead Place with her partner and two young daughters for nearly two years, believes there has been a “big improvement” to the safety of the area.

She said: “I look out onto this area from my kitchen window and this is a big improvement – it looks really nice.

“The volunteers have cleared away a lot of the overgrown shrubs so there are more grassed areas where residents can get together. There will be benches for people to sit out too – it’s good for us to have more space for things like that. Hopefully it will bring us all together more.

“They’ve also put up fencing to separate the back of the flats from the front so, if the children are playing out at the back, they can’t get onto the road which runs in front of the flats.”

Thrive Homes spearheaded the project after consulting with people living in Mead Place in June about the communal area and drew up the improvement plan as a result of their feedback.

Catherine Cooper, assistant director of ICT and Business Innovation at Thrive Homes, said: “Our contracts with partners include provision for achieving social value, which has enabled this project to succeed.

“Volunteers from Sovereign, PiLon, VPS Group and Pinnacle PSG all gave their time, expertise, materials and enthusiasm free of charge, which was a real bonus.

“We’d like to thank them all for helping us to make a huge difference, creating a welcoming space where members of the local community can come together.”