It's bin and gone in Georgian Hackney

The wheelie bins are gone, new trees have been planted and speeding cars slowed in a pioneering street clean-up scheme that has transformed Clapton Terrace - a row of 17 Georgian houses in Hackney.

This week its residents held a party to mark the completion of the £100,000 experiment that could be repeated nationwide.

The Clapton Terrace Project (which was funded by Hackney council, Transport for London and the Esme Fairbairn Foundation), was run by Sustrans, a sustainable transport charity, and involved removing unsightly bins that blocked the road’s fine old York stone pavement, replacing them with a smaller number of discreetly placed community rubbish bins; ramps to slow rat-run vehicles; new trees and better access to nearby Clapton Common.

Local resident, health service manager, Lynn Altass, 54, said: “There are only 17 houses in the road, but because most of the houses are divided into flats there are a total of 80 dwellings. There has been a lot of local support. If you are knocking on people’s doors to get their support, you talk to people you have never met before - it brings communities together.”

Clapton Terrace is now a much more pleasant place to live and house prices might even increase - as a bonus point for effort. For more information on the Sustrans DIY Streets scheme log on to the Sustrans website at www.sustrans.org.uk and search for DIY Streets.