Nominate Kettering constituency's grot spots for clean up by convicted offenders

A scheme will see convicted criminals clean up an area in the Kettering constituency which has been nominated by residents.

Philip Hollobone, MP for Kettering, has asked people to identify local grot spots that are in need of a clear-up to be the focus of a Community Payback Autumn Clean.

The Kettering constituency includes Kettering, Barton Seagrave, Burton Latimer, Desborough, Rothwell and 22 villages from Pytchley in the south to Weston-by-Welland in the north and from Braybrooke in the west to Cranford in the east.

Mr Hollobone said: “All of us who live locally know that there too many local grot spots which need clearing up.

"Now we have the chance through the Community Payback Scheme to arrange for convicted offenders to do the clean up as part of repaying their debt to society.

"Please let the Northants Telegraph know which areas need most attention and, for the area which comes out on top as being the most popular for a tidy-up, I will submit a bid to the Ministry of Justice to get the work done. I am really grateful to our local paper for getting involved in this.”

Readers of the Northants Telegraph have until Wednesday, August 9, to nominate their corner of the Kettering constituency to be cleared.

The top grot spot nomination will be passed on to the the Community Payback Autumn Clean team via Mr Hollobone.

Unpaid work can be ordered by courts as part of community sentencing for convicted offenders to pay back to the communities they have offended against as an alternative to short-term custodial sentences.

Every year more than five million hours of unpaid work are completed by offenders who can sentenced to between 40 and 300 hours of community payback, depending on the seriousness of their offending.

The Community Payback Autumn Clean follows on from the Community Payback’s 2023 Spring Clean event. The initiative involved more than 1,800 offenders and 5,000 bags of litter were collected nationally.

To nominate a grot spot, comment on our Facebook page or email [email protected] with a location, address and postcode with, if possible, a what3words location and photographs, by Wednesday, August 9.