Blackpool Thanks to Community Payback for Ibbison Court
08 Sep 2009
An area of Blackpool has been completely rejuvenated thanks to the work of offenders and the Community Payback Scheme.
Blackpool Council and the South Reassurance Plus team are thanking the Community Payback workers for their efforts on Ibbison Court. The scheme was chosen from five other areas in Blackpool but residents voted in their hundreds to support Ibbison Court. The whole area, formerly mostly grassed and hardly used by the community, has been transformed with new flower beds, new turfing and some light landscaping work.
Councillor Tony Williams, Cabinet Member for Culture and Communities at Blackpool Council,said: “The whole area has been transformed and the local residents in the area have all said how happy they are with the results. The grounds can now be used by the community to meet and enjoy what is a very pleasant green space in the town.
“The great thing about the whole scheme is that it has been carried out by offenders on Community Payback supervised by Lancashire Probation. It has really shown how this newly launched scheme can benefit everyone: The community has somewhere they can enjoy; everyone knows that the offenders are being punished and the offenders themselves have something they can be proud of. That will hopefully help them to motivate themselves to rehabilitate into society.
“There are four more schemes in Blackpool that were part of the vote and they too will now be carried out by Community Payback workers. I for one welcome it.”
Geri Byrne-Thompson, Area Director at Lancashire Probation said: “The support from the public for the Ibbison Court project was overwhelming – it got more votes than any other project in Lancashire that featured in the campaign. It’s a great example of how Community Payback projects work – local people have benefited, the offenders have been punished and everyone can see what has been achieved.
We want local communities to continue to have a say in where offenders carry out their sentences. That’s why the public can still tell us about new projects that offenders could complete by filling out the online nomination form at www.lancashireprobation.co.uk
The three week vote through the directgov website was part of the “Justice Seen, Justice Done” campaign to raise awareness of Community Payback as a tough punishment for criminals. The projects in Blackpool received 921 votes.
Community Payback is a punishment handed out by the courts to offenders who have to complete between 40-300 hours of demanding work in the community. They have to wear orange high-visibility jackets, marked Community Payback, so that the community can see that they are paying back for their crimes.
Every year in Blackpool, around 500 offenders have to complete Community Payback – carrying out over 40,000 hours of physical work on behalf of their communities to payback for their crimes.
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