Members of the community have rallied to support Project Abundance in Peterborough after around £1,000 worth of power tools was stolen from its site.

Project Abundance- based at the Green Backyard on Oundle Road in the city centre- is leading the way in demonstrating and education people on sustainable living practices; with a focus on natural food production and hands-on learning.

The project is dedicated to showcasing the environmental, health and wellbeing and social benefits of community green space projects.

Th community garden is open to the general public as well as for educational workshops for schools.

The project took a blow on Tuesday evening, however, when thieves smashed padlocks and broke into the site to steal a large number of power tools. The value of these tools is believed to have been around £800 – £1,000.

The full list of items taken was: a 18V Combi Drill 42Nm, a 18V Impact Driver 155Nm, a 18V 5" Angle Grinder, a 18V Circular Saw, a 18V Brushless Jigsaw, a 18V Torch, three, 18V 4.0Ah Li-Ion Batteries, two 18v 5.0Ah, one 60min Charger, two TSTAK(s), one 12v reciprocating saw, two compact carry cases and a Makita - Impact Driver.

Founder Lewis Vernum said: “The list of things we’ve noticed have been stolen equates to around £800 - £1000. This isn’t a small amount of money for us and equates to one of our core staff members wages for the month.

"We would appreciate anyone keeping an eye out for any of these being sold locally either individually or as a set. The loss is not enough to justify the excess fee and hike in insurance so we just have to take as a loss and reaccumulate when we can.

"If anyone has any cordless tools we can potentially borrow for the short term it would be massively appreciated."

A number of Project Abundance’s community projects were also at risk of being halted but the community has rallied in support and donations of tools to keep the work going for now.

Lewis added: “We’ve had a lot of community support in spreading the word and lending us tools. It has been a nice response from the community, which has really helped.”

A JustGiving page has been set up by a local member of the project to help them get back on their feet and to raise funds to improve the security system at Project Abundance.

To offer your support, visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/jo-pope-project-abundance.