A GROUP of offenders have been trying to make amends by clearing a popular cycle path in Tavistock.

The team of six men, who have all been convicted of crimes in the local area, removed overgrown vegetation and debris on a section of Route 27 of the National Cycle Network along Old Exeter Road.

It is part of Devon and Cornwall Probation Trust's Community Payback Project which is supported by West Devon Borough Council and the South Devon and Dartmoor Community Safety Partnership.

Under the supervision of Darren Dean, project workforce team leader for the Probation Trust, the group made the path safer and more accessible for local cyclist and walkers.

Darren said: 'It's great to be working with partner agencies to improve local communities for local people.

'We have been clearing the debris and created a wider pathway which is now suitable for some wheelchair users as well as cyclists and walkers alike.'

More than 200,000 hours of Community Payback are completed every year in Devon and Cornwall which equates to over £1 million of labour provided to local communities as offenders pay back for their crimes.

One of the offenders, John, said: 'It's good to use my skills productively and feel that I am doing a valuable task.'

The offenders worked free of charge as part of their community sentence but there is a fee of £160 to cover costs such as equipment.  All the money is reinvested by the Probation Trust to help stop reoffending.

Borough councillor and Devon County councillor for Tavistock, Cllr Debo Sellis, is funding the project from her locality budget.

Cllr Sellis said: 'This is an opportunity for the public to see the offenders paying back the community and for the offenders to benefit from reflecting on increasing good and harnessing self worth.'

The Community Safety Partnership is working with local communities in West Devon to bring forward more Community Payback Projects in the coming months.