Hundreds of years worth of rubbish is being cleared out from a stretch of the River Aire between Shipley and Baildon.

The Environment Agency will this week finish clearing work between Baildon Bridge, in Shipley, and Buck Lane, near Denso Marston Nature Reserve – an area the agency say was previously ruined by rubbish.

The project started in March as flood risk reduction work to remove trees which may cause a blockage in the river was carried out by the agency.

Operations delivery member Daniel Jagucki said: “We’ve been looking for ways that we could use the Probation Service’s Community Payback team to work alongside our in-house operations delivery team.

“Working with Bradford Council and the River Aire Trust, among other partners, we were able to start to clean up the river and its surroundings.

Members of the Community Payback team have been taking rubbish from the river bank to the waiting skips.

Businesses and volunteers in the area have been joining in with litter picks, path clearance and graffiti removal. Network Rail has built a new fence to prevent further fly-tipping.

Councillor Ghazanfer Khaliq, Bradford Council’s executive member for environment and sustainability, said: “I congratulate everyone involved for their efforts and I would hope that, in future, people treat the river with respect and keep it free from rubbish.”

  • Read the full story in Thursday's T&A