Offenders completed more than 23,000 of work on Macclesfield community projects last year – saving the taxpayer nearly £140,000.

That’s equivalent to almost one thousand days of free labour on practical tasks such as clearing church yards, cleaning graffiti and painting community halls.

The work – part of Cheshire Probation Service’s Community Payback scheme - saved the taxpayer £137,883 if they had been paid at the minimum wage.

Under the initiative, offenders sentenced by the courts for less serious offences are sent into the community to pay back their ‘debt to society’ dressed in high-visibility orange vests.

Probation chiefs say the figures, for the 12 months to April 2010, show the scheme is working, and are calling on the public to nominate their own Community Payback projects.

In total last year, 177 offenders were sentenced to community work in Macclesfield.

One project to benefit is East Cheshire Hospice. Hospice fund-raising manager Phil Robertshaw said: "They keep the garden and grounds maintained and in good order. Without that help they would be horrendous or we would have to pay thousands of pounds for a commercial set up that we just don’t have."

Offenders carried out 66,207 hours of work through the scheme across East Cheshire last year and more than 170,000 throughout Cheshire – the equivalent of £1 million worth of labour.

If you would like to nominate a Community Payback project visit cheshireprobation.org.uk or call 01244 394594.