GREEN-FINGERED community champion John Longmoor is finding the inner gardener of neighbours in a little verdant haven not far from a city centre.

The council grass-cutting team leader by day is the driving force behind a community push to add floral beauty to a quiet cul-de-sac, inhabited by mainly students and retired local folk.

He has garnered support from Elvet ward county councillors, with cash backing from their respective community funds, to help pay for an annual planting event in Oswald Court, Durham.

Mr Longmoor also enlisted support from local beat officers, in the Neighbourhood Watch-covered area, Believe Housing, Durham County Council’s Civic Pride team, plus Durham University student volunteers and pupils at the nearby St Oswald’s CE Primary School, who all took part in the community planting event.

“It’s a case of putting in sustainable plants, which, once they are in, are in there permanently. It brings the community together and I think everyone here appreciates it and are thrilled to be involved.”

The project also supports Durham’s bid for continued success in Northumbria and Britain in Bloom events.