Clean-up campaigner clears derelict Doncaster pub car park of drug needles and rubbish

The former site of The Benbow pub in Intake has become an overgrown and rubbish-strewn wasteland – become a site for fly-tipping and drug users.

But fed-up resident Reece Lloyd has decided enough is enough – and has set about tackling the unsightly mess.

He said: “I have had enough.

“So I’ve gone out on my own time with a brush and a small shovel and slowly started clearing up all the glass, needles, burnt out bits of wood with nails and general trash.

"I did a small section and it took me four hours, believe it or not.”

He said that kind-hearted locals left sacks and boxes for him to pile rubbish into.

"I managed to fill them to the top,” he said.

"The council has left this area to go barren so I am making the changes I want to see. It’s my personal mission to see Intake do better.

“It was once a lovely place to live.”

Earlier this year, plans were approved to turn the site on Armthorpe Road into a 64-bed elderly care home, marking the end of a lengthy process to find a suitable use for the site.

An applicant first gained permission to build an Indian restaurant on three different ocassions in 2010, 2014 and 2016 however building work failed to begin each time.

In 2019, an application was denied to turn the area into a complex of a petrol station, shops and takeaways.