Justice scheme works with 50 parish councils

A scheme where offenders work to deliver community improvements has connected with 50 parish councils, a police and fire commissioner (PFCC) said.

Danielle Stone, Northamptonshire's PFCC, said the Immediate Justice Team has worked on projects in more than 80 locations, including parks and communal areas across the county.

The project has seen 1,900 hours of work being undertaken by 360 offenders who had committed low-level offences such as possession of drugs, criminal damage and being drunk and disorderly.

Stone said the team had "been able to repair areas that often go unnoticed and restore pride in parks and communal areas that are vital to our communities".

The scheme, which was launched in 2023, is supported by the office of the PFCC and its participants were referred to the project by Northamptonshire Police.

The office of the PFCC said the projects completed included:

• Thirty-seven parks, including painting benches at Corby Boating Lake, planting at St Katherine's Gardens in Northampton and repairing play equipment at Brodie Lodge Playing Fields in Flore
• Fourteen community spaces, including helping to garden at the Veggie Patch in Wollaston, rejuvenating the memorial garden at St Lawrence's Church in Towcester and sprucing up the exterior of the Daylight Centre in Wellingborough
• Thirty communal areas, including making road signs visible in Little Harrowden, covering graffiti on the Grand Union Canal Path in Northampton and clearing the Greenway in Rushden

Stone added: "Immediate Justice makes the consequences for anti-social behaviour visible, and even small improvements have made a huge impact in so many areas across our county."

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