Criminals forced to pay back their ill-gotten gains give funding boost to Halifax project

Mark Burns-Williamson, West Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), granted just under £168,000 from his Safer Communities Fund to 35 groups tackling important issues such as burglary, road safety and cyber crime.

The grants from the fund, which is financed through money recovered from criminals by West Yorkshire Police and prosecutors under the Proceeds of Crime Act, were distributed at an awards evening.

One of the projects awarded a grant is The Orange Box in Calderdale who received £6000 for their project to support young people.

Councillor Adam Wilkinson, Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services, said: “We’re really grateful for this generous £6000 grant from the Safer Communities Fund.

"We want all Calderdale young people to have every opportunity to achieve their best.

"The grant will help towards this as we’ll be able to provide extra activities at our Orange Box young people’s centre. The activities will focus on boosting young people’s health and wellbeing, from cooking and music to physical activity.”

The Orange Box Young People's Centre is designed by young people for young people aged 13-19 years old.

The centre provides some workshops at present using services and partners but would with the funding it is looking to expand on this and maximise the potential of the building.

After getting youngsters to attend the centre would then follow up with youth work based approaches to ensure they can better support the young people through cooking, sports, arts and music activities.

Mark Burns-Williamson, said: “I am delighted to be able to continue to distribute these much needed funds to community safety projects across West Yorkshire.

“Whilst this latest round was open to applications covering any of the priorities in my Police and Crime Plan, I was particularly looking for projects with a focus around road safety, burglary, "honour" based abuse, cyber crime, human trafficking and modern slavery or missing people.

"Analysis of the Fund showed that we had slightly fewer applications in these areas so it is something that I am happy to see being addressed.

“The fund is so close to the £3 million mark now which is a real milestone.

"It’s also a true testament to the work of West Yorkshire Police and prosecutors in recovering the ill-gotten gains of criminals, ensuring that crime doesn’t pay and allowing the fund to continue which as ever I want to show my appreciation for with a big thank you for all the hard work that goes into achieving such results.”