Offenders to join St. Annes grime blitz

POLICE and partner agencies will be joined by offenders carrying out community payback to take on a neighbourhood clean-up in St Annes as part of a nationwide crackdown to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.

Around ten offenders wearing orange high-visibility jackets marked 'community payback' will be joined by residents and members of the St Annes neighbourhood policing team tomorrow (Wednesday 4 November).

The clean-up will focus around the area of The Crescent with participants picking up litter, cutting trees and painting railings.

St Annes Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) Pete Rae said: "Residents have raised concerns in the Police and Community Together (PACT) meetings about the cleanliness of the area.

"The area around The Crescent is well used, particularly by elderly residents.

"We want to make the space clear and make it as safe as possible and we hope that this clean-up will go some way to providing a long-term solution to this.

"The clean-up will enable residents to take pride in their neighbourhood, which in turn will reduce anti-social behaviour and low level crime."

This activity is being carried out to coincide with Not in My Neighbourhood Week, which highlights the good work being done by residents, the police, local councils and other agencies to make our streets safer.

Community payback is a punishment handed out by the courts and delivered locally so that the residents can see that offenders are paying back the community for their crimes.

Not in My Neighbourhood Week, which is running from Monday 2 November to Friday 6 November, aims to promote what is being done locally to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour and encourage local agencies to work together to keep the area safe.

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