DERELICT land turned into a community garden has been opened by Durham's Mayor Ray Gibbon.

The 12-acre Welfare Site allotments near St Agatha's Close, in Brandon, was used by flytippers for several years until it was bought by Brandon Allotments Ltd.

The company is promoting gardening and allotment-keeping to local people, including pupils from Deerness Valley Comprehensive School, Ushaw Moor.

The site includes a pond, wildlife study area, classroom and raised bed planters, and is accessible to people in wheelchairs.

The site, which won the County Durham Environment Award, has 93 plots in which people grow organic produce and keep livestock.

John Kitching, chairman of the project, said: "The project aims to show people how they can really benefit from learning the skills of gardening to provide themselves with a healthy meal."

He said that further funding was being sought to install water and electricity supplies.

Grants for the garden came from groups including Brandon and Byshottles Parish Council, the Single Regeneration Budget and the Royal Society for Nature Conservation's SEED programme.