A COLNE housing estate is set to bloom after residents received backing to set up a gardening co-operative.

Activate Pendle, a scheme set up to reduce the number of heart attacks in the area, is helping residents on the North Valley estate to launch the community-rooted scheme.

The appearance of the estate has come in for regular criticism from residents, who took part in a photographic project last year to stimulate ideas for potential improvements.

The first planting session for the new gardening scheme will be held next week, at Sacred Heart School, in Red Lane.

The idea for the co-operative took hold after a group of residents contacted Annette Hawkins, a community link advisor for Activate Pendle, which is backed by the Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Primary Care Trust.

The scheme is designed to provide a framework for residents on the estate to help each other tidy and plant their gardens.

Organisers hope the work involved will contribute to raising the fitness levels of those living on the estate, as the main aim of Activate Pendle is to encourage and enable people to take some exercise.

All residents on the estate are invited to attend the launch on March 10 at 7pm and children will be welcomed.

The first step in the project will be learning to plant a container which the residents can take home and nurture. Young people will be able to grow their own seeds to care for which can be entered in a competition in summer.

Annette said the project proved that, with a little help, people could change their lives for the better.

She said: "This scheme shows that people will take action to improve their health and their own community, given a little bit of support and encouragement.

"Excuse the pun, but it's a very heartening experience all round."

For information call Annette on 01282 859745 or Activate Pendle on 01282 616066.