OFFENDERS have been filling salt bins across York to help the city prepare for winter - and give something back to the community.

A team of local offenders has cleaned out more than 200 bins of old salt and litter and refilled them with new salt under the Community Payback scheme.

Community Payback is a sentence available to courts and is a requirement of a community order, which can be imposed on its own or with other requirements such as supervision by a probation officer.

The nationwide project is intended to provide rigorous and demanding activities which will punish offenders while making sure they pay something back to the community.

Payback manager Ed Gray said this was a new aspect to an already-successful partnership with City of York Council.

He added that it was a positive way to ensure the city’s streets were safer when the bad winter weather comes, especially for elderly and vulnerable residents.

Russell Stone, head of public realm at the council, said the flexibility and reliability of the Community Payback team was a significant and valuable resource for the council.

“A much-needed helping hand to fill over 200 council-owned salt bins means we have got the job done quickly, efficiently and at no cost to tax payers,” he said.

“It’s the council’s aspiration to continue working in partnership with the Community Payback team every winter to fill salt bins and to also provide snow wardens with salt too.”