Students from the University of Bradford and Bradford College joined together yesterday to help improve the Great Horton Road area, in a day of action backed by the city’s BID.

The ‘Make a Difference’ or MAD day saw volunteers teaming up to deliver activities including gardening and litter-picking to make a "substantial difference" to the area around the university and college.

Students were joined by West Yorkshire Police, who carried out vehicle and driving standard checks as part of Operation Steerside, and were also joined by Bradford Council services, who carried out a range of activities such as cleansing, weeding and graffiti removal.

The day was organised by the university, college and Bradford Business Improvement District (BID), in partnership with University of Bradford Students’ Union, Bradford Council, local Great Horton Road businesses and police.

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Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bradford, Professor Shirley Congdon, said: “We are extremely proud to have one of the greenest campuses in the world and are pleased that we can play a part in this day of action to clean up Great Horton Road.

“By working together with different teams and organisations across the district we can make a real difference and keep Bradford looking its best for all our staff, students and visitors to enjoy.”

Dawn Leak, Bradford College’s Vice Principal - Development & Growth, said: “At Bradford College we’re proud to have a diverse student body who bring a friendly and bright atmosphere to the area. We’re keen to do all we can to help ensure the Great Horton Road area outside the college is clean, tidy and safe for our students, staff and all other visitors to the area.”

The project is the first of several MAD days which the BID is organising in the city centre. BID Manager Jonny Noble said: “These improvement action days, affectionately known as ‘MAD’ days, will form an ongoing part of our partnership working with services from the other key stakeholders in the city centre to make areas cleaner, greener and feel safer.

“The next MAD day will take place in Little Germany next Spring."

“We’ve had a fabulous day – despite the weather which conspired to make it a little more difficult for everybody.

“We were really impressed by the way the students from both the College and University ignored the rain and just got stuck in and the way they worked together.

“More than 40 students took part and a lot of them even had a go at pressure washing away chewing gum under the supervision of AB Jetting, the BID’s street cleaning contractors.

“The clean-up has made a substantial difference and we hope it will help to instil a sense of pride in their surroundings in other students as well and encourage all of them to take care of their environment.

“And the hundreds of bulbs they planted will really brighten the area they frequent when they burst into life next Spring!

“We’d like to say a big ‘thank you’ to everyone who took part for helping to show how just a little effort by a group of willing people really can make a difference.”