Members of a new Haworth community project will soon be digging for victory to transform derelict, unused plots of land into busy hives of food production.

Main Street resident Ashna Yates, a Haworth parish councillor, has set up the Haw-Earth project to make use of neglected land in and around the village.

She said: “I only had the idea about a month ago when I was walking around the area and thinking it was a shame this land was going to waste.

“Myself and another councillor will be on Haw-Earth’s steering committee, along with other non-councillor volunteers.

“This will be a separate entity from the parish council. Ideally, we want people who are not councillors to get involved and take this over once we’ve got it established.

“We’re searching for more volunteers with any experience whatsoever. They don’t even need to know which end of a shovel to use – we’ll show them!”

Coun Yates said she and her fellow project members already have permission to work on one piece of land – an overgrown plot running alongside Parkside Social Club.

She would like to get primary schools involved, as well as unemployed people interested in taking on voluntary work to help enhance their CVs.

She added she was investigating whether a number of other pieces of land around Haworth can be used for the same initiative.

Coun Yates said: “We want the project to get older and younger people mixing together, with the older people sharing their knowledge.

“I’m from a farming family, and I’m interested in the earth and in growing things, but quite a lot of young people don’t know where food comes from.

“We would be planting vegetables, herbs, fruit – anything that’s easy for people to grow.

“The volunteers who have worked on the land would get some of the food and the rest of it we’d sell or give away.”

E-mail hawearth@gmail.com or call 07720 751752 to get in touch with Coun Yates.