Hop, skip, paint - Offenders spruce up Birmingham playground
Offenders sentenced to Community Payback, supervised by Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation, have spruced up a children’s playground in Fox Hollies Park.
Local residents had complained to the police about anti-social behaviour - graffiti, drinking and drug-use - taking place around the playground. Sergeant Tom O’Keeffe of West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council contacted Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation to see whether offenders could renovate the playground as part of their Community Payback work.
Teams of offenders cut back and removed overgrowth next to the playground to remove hiding places where people could drink and take drugs. Then they renovated the equipment in the children’s playground, rubbing down the metalwork then painting all the railings, swings, slides and climbing frames.
SWM Probation Community Payback officer Andrew Oram said the offenders were enthusiastic about the project. One offender said, “This is a nice job to work on – I can see it will be much nicer for the children to play on when they come to the park.”
The local community, West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council say they are very pleased with the improvement the offenders have made to area.
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Notes to Editors
1. Across Staffordshire and the West Midlands, over 580,000 hours of Community Payback are completed every year by over 4,000 offenders on a community sentence. This equates to over three million pounds’ worth of free labour provided to local communities.
2. To nominate a project for Community Payback, please call 0121 248 2688, or visit www.SWMprobation.gov.uk.
3. For more information, please contact Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation Communications Unit 0121 248 6570 or go to www.SWMprobation.gov.uk.
