Castleford cons build community garden

Criminals in Castleford are being taught how to use their energy in a more productive manner by helping to build a community garden, it has been revealed.

Work is being carried out on wasteland in Airedale to provide residents with a space to enjoy together.

According to the Yorkshire Post, the Community Payback scheme sees offenders pick up garden and greenhouse skills, while providing the local area with a service.

The will create a green space and allotments for locals to use and Castleford neighbourhood policing team inspector Ian Williams told the newspaper the scheme is already bearing fruit.

He said: "This project was only nominated two weeks ago and residents are already seeing the benefit.

"Not only do they get to choose the scheme but they can also see offenders giving something back to the community."

He explained a number of similar initiatives are in the planning stages and could soon be in place.

It seems Yorkshire offenders may be particularly skilled in the garden and greenhouse – earlier this week the Royal Horticultural Society revealed a local institution had the best prison garden in the UK.