Don’t miss your chance to choose how offenders pay back the community

Already elderly residents in Earlsheaton have been helped back to normality with offenders clearing snow from pavements and roads near their homes.

A variety of other nominations have also been received by police and West Yorkshire Probation, ranging from cleaning graveyards to tidying footpaths.

Community Payback involves offenders doing compulsory work. Supervised by probation staff, they are available to tackle a whole range of jobs. And the labour is free as the offenders have been sentenced by the courts to do between 40 and 300 hours of work.

Insp Steve Forrest said all those who had sent in nominations would be contacted. “Since we launched the Payback nomination scheme with the Reporter, nominations have poured in and that’s great,” he said.

Kimberley Ingram of the Probation Trust said: “We urge people to send in nominations. The Payback teams are here to work for you and have been doing a great job to improve communities.”

Nominations being considered include: Graveyard and path clearance at Holy Innocents Church in Thornhill Lees; Graveyard and path clearing at the former St Peter’s Church, Earlsheaton; Clearing overgrown footpath at Leeds Road, Stocksbank Road and at Battyeford Road, Mirfield.

To nominate a project, complete the form in this week’s Reporter - on sale Thursday December 23.