Over the course of five years, neighbours living alongside a neglected, litter-filled back alley worked carefully to turn the unloved strip of land into a shared garden filled with greenery.
Residents removed dumped rubbish, sowed wildflowers, added shrubs and planted fruit trees producing apples and pears, while also nurturing an established grapevine they hoped might one day yield their own distinctive local wine.
Before long, the transformed alleyway garden had become a small haven for hedgehogs, bats and other wildlife, as well as a friendly community space for neighbours’ gatherings and children’s celebrations.
But the residents said they were devastated when they came home from work on Friday to find workers in high-visibility clothing had torn through the green space without any prior warning.
Tom Marrett, a 37-year-old local designer who helped launch the Levenshulme, Manchester, project in 2021, said he was left stunned after stepping into the alley to put out his bins on Friday evening and discovering the garden had been destroyed.
Writing on Facebook, he criticised the workers’ approach as heavy-handed and lacking foresight, saying he was genuinely lost for words when he saw the community alleyway garden had been completely levelled.
He said the space had supported hedgehogs, bats and a wide range of insects and birds that had come to rely on the once-derelict alley.
According to Mr Marrett, it was far more than an overgrown patch: it had grown into a thriving pocket ecosystem and a meaningful urban green space for the people who lived 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 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 30m 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.
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 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.
Tom Marrett, 37, said the destruction of the garden was a ‘catastrophe’ and ‘cultural vandalism’
‘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.’
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.
