Offenders Pay Back Highland Communities By Clearing Snow
5th December 2010
Over the recent week of wintry weather, Community Service Teams have been clearing roads and paths across the Highlands to aid more vulnerable members of the community.
More than 60 offenders have been working with The Highland Council Social Work staff to clear snow and grit paths and roads.
This has included works clearing pathways at sheltered housing complexes, day centres and care homes for older people, as well as at centres for people with learning disabilities.
Over the recent week of wintry weather, Community Service Teams have been clearing roads and paths across the Highlands to aid more vulnerable members of the community.
More than 60 offenders have been working with The Highland Council Social Work staff to clear snow and grit paths and roads.
This has included works clearing pathways at sheltered housing complexes, day centres and care homes for older people, as well as at centres for people with learning disabilities. For the last few days, the teams have worked in conjunction with Transport Environmental and Community Services to assist by refilling grit bins and clearing pavements that still require to be done.
The offenders' normal routines have been re-organised by the Council, to assist local communities and these groups at this challenging time of very severe conditions. In the Inverness area alone, more than 200 hours of assistance have been provided.
Bill Alexander, The Highland Council's Director of Social Work, said: "The teams of offenders are clearing snow and helping out the public, as well as many vulnerable people in some of our care services. This is very welcome, and shows a real payback for local communities."
Councillor Alasdair Christie, Vice-chairman of the Council's Housing and Social Work Committee, said: "We are seeing offenders giving something back to the public by carrying out some challenging and important work, to clear roads and paths of snow for elderly residents and others, so that they can get out and about safely. This shows an effective and prompt response from the Social Work Service and the Council, using the available labour and time of offenders, helping them to repay their dues to the community."
Related Businesses
Related Articles
Todays Audit Scotland report Local government budgets 2024/25 reveals how dire council budgets are. This makes many more cuts in services likely in coming years.
At the Highland Council Economy and Infrastructure Committee. (Thursday 2 May 2024) Members had the opportunity to review the work the Council is doing to progress active travel and improve road safety before approving the next steps.
At the meeting of the Economy and Infrastructure Committee members had the opportunity to review the last two years of the Community Regeneration Funding Programme before agreeing changes to how the 2024/25 programme will be delivered. Committee Chair, Cllr Ken Gowans said: "Following a successful two years, it is a good time to review what has gone well and what can be done better so we can continue to build on success, and seamlessly move the focus onto how best to support the delivery of projects." "With 279 live projects and over £6million of committed funds still to be claimed, there is no doubt as to the value and impact of the programme's potential.
The Highland Council's In-House bus service pilot project was launched in January 2023. The success of its first year of operation in delivering savings and creating a valued and reliable service was highlighted at today’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee.
Members of Highland Council's Economy and Infrastructure Committee today (2 May 2024) approved the local authority's draft Ecology Strategy and Action Plan which will now move forward to an 12-week public consultation. The Ecology Strategy sets out an ambitious set of actions to tackle biodiversity loss and address the ecological emergency.
Economy and Infrastructure Committee members today (2 May 2024) agreed to direct £100K from the Council's share of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to fund a new staff training programme at the Inverness Castle Experience. The funding will enable the project team to provide specialist visitor attraction training to young people identified through partners at Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) and the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI).
The Housing and Property Committee met on Wednesday 1 May 2024 and noted the Housing Service performance report 2023/24 that met the agreed priorities and associated initiatives in the Local Housing Strategy 2023-2028. The report highlighted a number of achievements in 2023/24 in increasing housing supply.
Kate Lackie, Malcolm MacLeod and Allan Gunn have been appointed as Assistant Chief Executives with The Highland Council. Convener of the Council, Cllr Bill Lobban said: "I am delighted to say that Kate Lackie, Malcolm MacLeod and Allan Gunn have been appointed as Assistant Chief Executives with The Highland Council.
As intimated in Highland Council's budget plan, a new senior management structure is to be implemented following approval by Council 14th March. It reconfigures the senior management team into two layers, rather than three and brings Highland Council into line with other benchmarked authorities.
Today, Morrison Construction introduced some of their local apprentices who are working on the UK Governments' Levelling Up Funded refurbishment project at the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness. All these apprentices have been recruited from the Highland area.
