Community's joy as rat-infested wasteland finally cleared after long battle

Residents of a Doncaster housing estate are making plans for the future after a patch of overgrown wasteland was finally cleared after a lengthy battle.

The rat-infested disused patch of land in Clay Lane has been levelled after a three year battle - and there are now plans to develop the area into a community facility.

A spokesperson for Friends of Clay Lane said: “After three years of fighting, phone calls, emails, solicitors, land registry rights, council, St Leger, the mayor, a farmer and everything in between - the land behind the pub has finally been levelled!

“Getting rid of the rat-infested habitat - hopefully we can start to rebuild this area as something for the community.

“Thank you to everyone involved who made this happen.”

Earlier this year, the group was left furstrated after St Leger Homes rejected a request to turn the abandoned land to the rear of the former Explorer Club on Shackleton Road into a community garden.

The area had become a haven for rats and rubbish dumping while the long abandoned and derelict club itself has become a magnet for anti-social behaviour and arson attacks.

Concerns were raised about the wasteland encroaching on a neighbouring play park, with children being scratched by brambles and nettles.

Earlier this year, one resident fumed: “I back onto it and it’s an eyesore - the trees and bushes grow over our fence and I cannot cut them back enough. It’s getting to be a joke now.”

The group’s aim is to improve what it describes as a “forgotten estate”, one step at a time.