Search for
Search for
Search forYoung offenders help in gardening scheme
Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 07:43
The new plots in Twerton will be used by four Bath charities keen to introduce people to the benefits of gardening.
A scheme in which young people make amends for their criminal behaviour has created 18 raised allotment beds and two standard plots at Monksdale Road.
The charities involved in the council scheme are the Carrswood Community Resource Centre disability group; mental health organisation Bath Mind; Teenage Rampage, which helps disabled young people; and brain injury charity Headway.
Bath and North East Somerset Council contractors installed the raised beds and worked at the allotments to bring them up to the standards required by the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).
The authority's open spaces team was then helped by young people working with the council's youth offending experts through the Verge Project.
The reparation scheme involves youngsters who have appeared in court and saw them finishing off ground work, weeding, hedge-cutting and planting trees.
A number of the people who will be using the allotment plots have also been involved in the project from its beginning and have suggested ideas to make the site more user-friendly.
Cllr Charles Gerrish (Con, Keynsham North), cabinet member for customer services, said: "This is an excellent initiative which I hope will bring great enjoyment to everyone involved. Gardening can help people to improve their physical and mental health, and is also a great way to meet new contacts and socialise."
Cabinet member for children's services Cllr Chris Watt (Con, Midsomer Norton Redfield) added: "This project has given young people who have offended a chance to make a positive difference in the community. I believe that many of the young people have gained a lot from this experience, and it is excellent to see that their hard work will bring benefits for all of the charities involved."
The council has used money from the Government's DDA Fund while one of the fruit trees at the site was paid for thanks to the council's involvement in an aluminium recycling scheme.
Comment on this story