College helps team deliver community payback

Those completing community service spent time working at a park recently opened next to MidKent College’s Medway Campus.  

The team had been asked to complete a general tidy-up of the Lower Lines Park, which opened on Gillingham’s Medway Road in January this year. The small team of offenders was accompanied by community payback officer Brian Forster. “This work has been organised by police community support officers in conjunction with the college,” said Mr Forster. “This isn’t the first time we have delivered community payback at MidKent College as we visited the Horsted site in Chatham a number of times. However, this is our first visit to this new campus and the park that recently opened here.

“Community payback is all about servicing the community and doing something positive for local people. We are keen to work in partnership with the police, the fire service and educational institutions like the college so that we can offer our support to projects that will make a real difference in the local community.”

Formerly known as community service, community payback is unpaid work aimed at giving something to local communities and enabling offenders to ‘payback’ for the wrong they have done. Police community support officer for the college and the surrounding area Rowan Cornwall said: “The Lower Lines Park is part of the community as well as the college, so inviting the payback team here is great for our staff and students as well as local residents and park visitors.

“At the end of the day, these offenders are human beings who know their crimes and are here to help us out. They’ve only been here for half an hour, and already the difference is phenomenal. They’re doing a great job.”

Designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, the Lower Lines comprise a series of fortifications and brick trenches constructed from 1803 onwards to help defend Chatham Dockyard from attack during the Napoleonic Wars. Construction of the Lower Lines Park has seen 5.5 hectares of the open land linked to the Lines - and next to MidKent College’s Medway Campus - revitalised thanks to £7 million of college funding. The picturesque community space now features a view of the historic Lines, as well as woodlands and a wildlife trail for local residents and visitors of the park to enjoy.