OFFENDERS have given back to the community after clearing nearly 15 tonnes of rubbish from Sandwell’s neighbourhoods as part of the Safer 6 Campaign.

Supervised offenders carried out a total of 817 hours unpaid during their ‘community payback’, transforming a number of areas including parts of Rowley Regis, Cradley Heath and Oldbury.

Sandwell Council’s estate maintenance team works with Staffordshire and West Midlands Community Rehabilitation Company to get offenders cleaning up sites.

During the campaign, the offenders cleared dumped rubbish from a passageway and communal area on the Lion Farm estate and cut back an overgrown area at an old allotment site in Beeches Road in Oldbury.

They also cleared overgrown bushes in Rowley’s Perry Park Road, tidied up an area by garages at Falcon Place and helped at a major community tidy-up at Mousesweet Brook Nature Reserve in Cradley Heath.

Councillor Elaine Costigan, cabinet member for public health and protection, said: “Through the Community Payback scheme, residents can see offenders serving their sentences, carrying out clean-up projects that benefit our towns and neighbourhoods.

“I would like to thank our estate maintenance team and Staffordshire and West Midlands CRC for making this happen.”

The council’s estate maintenance team, neighbourhood officers, Litterwatch, volunteers, councillors, Serco and other partners also held clean-ups and litter-picks at places across Sandwell during the campaign.