Offenders completed more than 66,000 hours of work on East Cheshire community projects last year as part of their court sentence.

That’s equivalent to 2,750 days of free labour on practical tasks such as clearing church yards, cleaning graffiti and painting community halls across Wilmslow and other parts of the region.

The work – part of Cheshire Probation Service’s Community Payback scheme – saved the taxpayer £384,000, 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, 477 offenders were sentenced to community work in East Cheshire.

Offenders carried out more than 170,000 hours of unpaid work in the community throughout all of Cheshire – the equivalent of £1m worth of labour.

Cheshire Probation Service chairman Leslie Robinson said: "From bringing derelict areas and buildings back into public use, clearing church yards, repairing park benches and removing graffiti, offenders are working to make local communities better places to live.

"Statistics show that if somebody is actively employed they are less likely to commit a further offence because their lifestyle is more stable."

Steve Collett, chief executive of Cheshire Probation Service, added: "The public wanted to see this happen and it is appropriate for the public to know what punishments offenders are carrying out in the community.

"This is one of the ways we are opening up the criminal justice system and trying to raise confidence in community sentences which can be really effective in punishing offenders, paying back to wronged communities and cutting re-offending."

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

The cost benefit was calculated using the minimum wage of £5.80 per hour. This is due to go up to £5.93 next month.