A charity has taken the first steps in its ambitious plan to transform an area of wasteland in the centre of Ipswich into a cancer support centre.

The Eden-Rose Coppice Trust called on the help of 40 student radiography and chemotherapy nurses from University Campus Suffolk to clear rubbish from Brickmakers’ Wood on Friday.

Charity founder Rob Brooks said the team removed half a skip load of waste from the three-and-a-half-acre site located near the university.

Mr Brooks needs to find £250,000 worth of funding to start the development.

The charity has already rejuvenated a woodland area in Sudbury into a nature-filled retreat for people facing the end of lives.