18 August
A partnership between offenders on community work and the Manawatu Mountain Bike Club looks set to result in a myriad of new tracks for local riders.
The tracks are being constructed at the old landfill site at the bottom of Maxwell’s Line, where the club has already built a jumps course and technical course with the help of the Palmerston North City Council.
Work started in late July and the ultimate plan is for the 2.3km cross country course to continue around the tip site and connect with the jumps course.
Community Probation & Psychological Services (CPPS) Senior Community Work Supervisor Barry Watson says the project’s ideal for his workers to get involved with, since it’s labour-intensive and community-focused, and the mountain bike club agrees.
The mountain bike club’s trail building coordinator Bill Russell says having a work team involved is a huge advantage, and the relationship came about after a meeting with the council, who suggested CPPS as a source of reliable labour.
“We’ve got maybe 250 members, but motivating people to get on the end of a shovel is the tricky part. On a good day, we might get 12 or so down there helping, but to have reliable guys down there on a regular basis like this is great.”
Barry says shifting large amounts of earth is difficult and time-consuming work, so he’s hoping the work team will make a big difference.
“The club’s initial plans, with working bees and so on had allowed 12 months plus to do the first stage. With our help we should be able to get them up and running by the end of the summer if not sooner, depending on the weather.”
He says helping to build what should be a permanent fixture for the Manawatu mountain biking community is a good project for the offenders on community work .
“In years to come, these guys will be able to drive past the site with their friends and families and point out what they did. Making a positive contribution to the community is great for their pride, and helps instil a positive work ethic which will hopefully stand them in good stead once their sentence is complete.”
Annually, New Zealand communities benefit from almost three million hours of labour supplied through community work sentences.
Community work sentences require offenders to do unpaid work in the community for non-profit organisations as reparation for their offending.
Click here for more about good work done by the Community Probation & Psychological Services
For further information contact the Communications Services Desk:
Phone: (04) 460 3365
Email: commdesk@corrections.govt.nz