The Lord Mayor of York, Councillor John Galvin, found out just how tough community punishments can be when he attended the first ever City of York unpaid work Mayoral Project, at one of York’s most popular cycling paths.

As project sponsor, the Lord Mayor gave his official backing to the project, which saw offenders working hard to make amends for their crimes. Offenders carried out work in Layerthorpe on the National Cycle Network which is co-ordinated by Sustrans, the UK’s leading sustainable transport charity. To help maintain the popular cycle route for the benefit of its regular users, the offenders undertook a raft of environmental jobs that included strimming and cutting back hedges, removing rubbish and broken glass, cleaning away graffiti from the bridge, and repainting local monuments in the immediate area.

The Lord Mayor, Lady Mayoress, Sheriff and Sheriff's Consort, were greeted by senior representatives of the Probation Service and the York unpaid work team. Commenting on the project, the Lord Mayor said: “I am delighted to be the first Lord Mayor in York to be invited to sponsor a unpaid Mayoral Project in the City. The people in York want to know that criminals in York are being made to pay back for their crimes. Community Payback schemes, like mine today, make this a reality and very importantly give local communities a say in what criminals must actually do to make amends for their crimes.

He added: “The cycle network is a wonderful asset to York and it is tremendous to see offenders giving payback in such a positive way. This will go some way in helping Sustrans maintain what is an extensive and invaluable network.”

York, which is regarded as one of the country's premier cycling cities, has an extensive network of off-road cycle paths and on-road cycle lanes for cyclists of all ages and has rececently been awarded Cycling City status.

Sustrans co-ordinates and maintains the National Cycle Network paths in York with help from an army of volunteers. Sustrans’ Regional Director, David Hall, said: "This is a fantastic project that proves that local offenders, through unpaid work, can play an important role in improving and caring for their local environment whilst making full reparation for their offences. This kind of work offers a very welcome hand to our hard working and dedicated volunteers who take great pride in maintaining a network of cycling routes that help to keep communities in York travelling in more healthy and sustainable ways.

“Longer term, this partnership approach between Sustrans and North Yorkshire Probation will create a positive impact for local communities throughout York.”

Every year offenders in North Yorkshire carry out around 121,000 hours of compulsory Unpaid Work. On minimum wage, this equates to almost £700,000 worth of free labour that benefits local organisations and charities. Offenders work on a variety of projects, including places of worship, schools, community centres and village halls. Although the beneficiary must provide the cost of the materials, all the labour is provided free by the offenders as part of their community order. The projects are assessed, managed and supervised by the National Probation Service in North Yorkshire.

Pete Brown, Chief Officer North Yorkshire Probation commented: “Unpaid Work has a hugely positive effect in North Yorkshire and the City of York. Besides the benefits to us all of offenders paying back to the community for their crimes, the work that takes place provides rigorous and demanding punishment.

“Local councils are at the centre of their communities and mayors are the most visible representatives of these councils. It is fitting that they should have a say in the type of work offenders carry out in their local areas.

“Today has proven to be a very successful partnership between North Yorkshire Probation, the City of York Council and Sustrans, and one that I hope will go from strength to strength.”

Other guests at the event included North Yorkshire Probation Board Chair Mr Ken Bellamy CBE, local magistrates, City of York elected members and representatives from Sustrans.

The invited audience were also addressed by Mr Roy Freer MBE, a regular local beneficiary of Community Payback for the Dunnington Britain in Bloom Committee.

Mr Paul Roberts, Finance Director, York Housing Association was also on hand to present the York unpaid work team with a new petrol strimmer and power washer by way of acknoweldging and celebrating the partnership work between the two organisations.

North Yorkshire and City of York residents can nominate projects they would like to see carried out by logging onto the Unpaid Work page of this website.