A BUSY alleyway known for graffiti and antisocial behaviour has been transformed in Cowley.

Thanks to more than £5,000 of improvements, including installing a new lamp, residents now feel safer using the route.

Members of the Clive Road Area Residents Association (Clara), which includes Clive Road, Maidcroft Road, Lawrence Road and Littlehay Road, have welcomed the move to transform the footpath between Havelock Road and Maidcroft Road.

Cowley resident Hilary Grime, a member of Clara, said: “It is lovely to have a safe pathway back again because it had become so overgrown and had graffiti on the wall.

“It wasn’t very nice but it is a nice path to walk along now. Before I didn’t feel comfortable walking through.”

Oxfordshire County Council funded a new lamp and Oxford City Council’s parks team cut back vegetation, removed rubbish and cleared graffiti.

Anne Mackintosh, of Maidcroft Road, another member of Clara, said: “The pathway was a focus for antisocial behaviour and it was really unpleasant.

“It just became more and more neglected.”

But she added that trees needed to be planted to replace the vegetation that had been lost and said: “The pathway does now look very bare, and there has been a significant loss of habitat for birds and other wildlife.”

The city ouncil spent £944 clearing graffiti, painting walls and cutting vegetation. The money for the street light, which cost about £3,500, came from county council funds for Littlemore and Cowley highways improvements.

Another £270 from the fund was spent on shrubs for the path.

City councillor Shah Khan, who lives in Havelock Road, said: “There are a huge amount of people who use that alleyway to get to Cowley centre. It is very dark in the winter.

“I was hoping to get lights into the park itself and we are still working on that.”