A significant proportion of the older housing in central Middlesbrough consists of traditional terraces, and they remain the close-knit and vibrant communities they’ve always been.
But in common with their counterparts up and down the country they also have their challenges – in particular, the alleyways that separate individual rows and which can become magnets for anti-social behaviour, vandalism and fly-tipping.
The installation of secure alley gates in recent years – with access restricted to individual households – has gone some way to tackling the problem.
But the single most amazing transformation has been brought about by the creativity, passion and local pride of the residents themselves.
Not content with simply securing their alleyways, they’ve turned them into colourful communal gardens and meeting spaces that have gained national attention.
More than 20 alleys around the town have been given visually striking makeovers, and there are more in the pipeline.
Projects to date range from clean-ups to colourful hanging baskets and planters, wooden benches and bird houses, and even striking murals created by residents and local artists.
One fabulous image showing the newly created oasis of calm behind Longford Street in the town centre has been viewed by more than 200,000 people on social media, and when the same image was shared on Twitter by one of our local housing associations it racked up more than 13,000 likes.
We’re not unique of course, but I’ve had messages from politicians in places hundreds of miles away asking how we got the scheme going.
It’s important to stress that the council can’t take the credit – that’s down to the passionate local people who work tirelessly to create places of which they can be truly proud.
We learned that we don’t just go in and do it – the residents do it themselves and we help them with resources, maybe a little money and other forms of support.
It’s all about empowering them, helping to build and strengthen communities in the process. The results really do speak for themselves.