Staff from Derby Homes will be joining forces with the Probation Service on Wednesday 22 November to clean up the grounds of Garsdale Court sheltered housing complex in Alvaston.

Radio Derby will broadcast live from Garsdale Court to provide an up to the minute commentary on the progress being made to the make over. Caretaker Dave Welton and his team will work alongside supervised offenders who will take part in the project as part of their community service. By the end of the day, walkways and drying areas will have been tidied and a public footpath will have been cleared.

Derbyshire Probation Service has been running ‘Community Payback’ for over a year. Local people make suggestions as to the type of unpaid work offenders take part in for their community sentence. This can include decoration and repairs, general environmental works and renovation of derelict buildings. In 2005/6 Derbyshire benefited from over 130,000 hours of unpaid work, worth over £600,000.

Derby Homes is committed to tacking anti-social behaviour and will provide £1million over the next five years to fund youth inclusion projects in areas of Alvaston, Boulton, Mackworth, Morley and Stockbrook. It has been recognised that providing youth clubs and learning opportunities is an effective way of reaching young people who are at risk of offending and causing anti-social behaviour.

For more information about the probation service in Derbyshire and to make a suggestion for a community payback scheme, please visit http://www.dpsonline.org.uk/