OFFENDERS have helped rejuvenate the Hood Manor shopping area, which has had a £50,000 facelift.

Teams of criminals on community service tidied up the grounds after Clr Jim Regan and Sara Tomison, Warrington Borough Council’s acting estates services manager, approached the probation service to take on the task.

The idea was also supported by Mayor Clr Graham Welborn as one of his projects.

For the past four weeks teams of offenders were busy digging the flowerbeds between the parking bays, cutting shrubs, spreading topsoil and planting new flowers.

Clr Welborn, a former police officer and teacher, said he was delighted with the standard of the work and the chance the project was giving to the offenders.

He said: “It’s nice for them to be putting something back into the community and for them to see such positive results of their work.

“I have worked all my life with vulnerable youngsters and I know how important it is for them to be included and to play a part in society.

“It’s also good for the public to see offenders putting something back into the community.”

The transformation has been praised by Keith Wakefield, maintenance officer for Great Sankey Parish Council, which runs the Hood Manor Community Centre.

He said: “The gardens were terribly unkempt and that made the whole area look depressing. The council made the first improvements by replacing loose flagstones and now these lads have done a tremendous job.”

Elaine Hamlett, unpaid work placement manager, was proud of the effort put in by the team.

She said: “As well as learning about respect they are learning new skills, how to work as a team and about the discipline of working life.

“It is a very good basis for gaining future employment – some of the members of the group may not have had a job at all.”