Ackroyd Drive Greenlink’s transformation into community garden

Ackroyd Drive Greenlink is set to be transformed into a glorious garden vista for the people of Poplar thanks to Trapped in Zone One’s community project.

The Ackroyd Drive Greenlink has been a derelict space for the last few years, but that is about to change. The creative organisation Trapped in Zone One has reached its crowdfunding target and will give this run-down grassland a well needed ‘Gardeners’ World’ style makeover.

Trapped in Zone One have crowdfunded over £7,000 for the project and together with the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park and the community of Ackroyd Drive,  will work to turn the space into a lush, green community garden. They also want to include multiple murals in the garden that focus on climate change and the environment that Trapped in Zone One wants the community to help design through virtual workshops. 

“We’ve been talking about doing something with this space since around 2019, and we were supposed to do something last year but we couldn’t”, says Bablu Miah, the Head and Founder of Trapped in Zone One, “We decided to crowdfund as it was a way for the community to be involved and particularly with the art, what I’ve found is that if the community is involved in the work then it’s appreciated more and cared for.”

Once the garden is complete, Trapped in Zone One will be offering workshops in gardening and lessons about local wildlife, as well as nature and history walks and activities for local families.

”What we want to achieve is a community space” says Bablu “The Greenlink has suffered over the last few years from flytipping, litter, anti-social behaviour like drugs and vandalism but what we want to do is make it a green space for the community around the Greenlink to enjoy, be proud of, and to want to care about.”

The focal point of the community gardens will be the murals on the rail arches. The artists painting the community-designed mural are Manchester street artists Reform; and the pieces will be about climate change, particularly about how it will impact Tower Hamlets. Bablu says: “It’s an important issue in our time and something we need to be aware of, it’s so important especially to young people as that’s our future. The murals we produce will hopefully remind the community that this is a problem we are facing and can do something about.”

Once completed, Trapped in Zone One will unveil the new community garden and art murals at an exciting event hosted by the charity group with speakers from the local authority. The project is set to start towards the end of May, early June and is planned to be finished just in time for those glorious East London summer days… not long now. 

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