Greater Manchester Probation Trust

Community Payback helps clear snow for Trafford schools

08 Jan 2010

Roads outside every school in Trafford are to be ploughed and gritted over the weekend, as Trafford Council prepares schools for re-opening following the heavy snowfall and subsequent icy conditions this week.

On Monday morning staff from Trafford Council's front line teams will be stationed at each school to shovel any extra snow. Trafford's Community Payback unit, part of Greater Manchester Probation Trust, will be providing community payback workers for three full days, from Saturday to Monday. Executive Councillor Alan Mitchell said: "This is excellent news and I'm delighted that our partners at the Probation Service have agreed to team up with us to carry out this work. Our gritting teams have been working extremely hard, 24/7, to keep the borough's roads as safe as possible in these extreme circumstances. Now, we're leading the way in starting this work outside schools in a bid to help them prepare for re-opening." Caroline Edwards, Community Payback Manager at Trafford, said: "We are delighted to help carry out work that enables schools across the borough to open, and for them to be safe places for the pupils and staff to access. The offenders have done themselves proud by the amount of hard work they have put in during freezing temperatures. They are clearly paying pack to the community against which they offended."