Thursday 15th October, 2009

Yatesbury Church Field project wins online poll

Yatesbury Church Field project wins online poll Wiltshire’s residents have had a greater say in how criminals should pay back to the community.

Wiltshire Probation launched a special Community Payback section on its website in September to allow the public to vote where they would most like to see this work completed during Inside Justice Week in 2009.

Three unpaid work projects were nominated by members of the public to start the ball rolling. These were then put up for nomination on
www.wiltshireprobation.org.uk.

Votes were counted and verified on 16 October and the winner announced the following day. The result was a landslide with one project managing to grab over 85% share of the public vote. That’s very impressive considering 299 votes were cast.

The winning project was Yatesbury Church Field, located between Calne and Avebury. The Community Payback team began work at Yatesbury on 17 October.

The work involves the clearance of overgrown bushes and small trees around the perimeter of the field and removal of undergrowth in the nearby wooded area. The land needs clearing to make it a safer environment for the children who visit the Community Centre to play in.

Cheryle Davies, Community Payback Team Manager at Wiltshire Probation, commented: “Community Payback offers the local community, as direct beneficiaries of the eight million hours of compulsory work done each year by offenders, an opportunity to have your say.”

“It is vital for the community to play a role in the nomination of Community Payback projects. Without the unpaid work carried out by offenders, projects for non–profit organisations would not happen due to the cost of paid labour,” added Tracy Geiran, Project Coordinator for Wiltshire Probation.

Given that all the projects up for nomination are very deserving, it’s satisfying to know that they all will be completed by the Community Payback team before the end of the year.

The other projects involve outdoor restoration work in the grounds Liden School in Swindon and the removal of graffiti at a duck–pond wall, skate–park and underpasses in Trowbridge.

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