Monday 3rd April is the start of the Home Office's National Clean Up Week 2006, where offenders from nine regions around the country will be cleaning up projects voted for by the public.

The service needs you to get involved by voting now for a project in your area that you think is in need of a facelift.

Projects from eight areas around the country are taking part in the public vote, with the project that receives the most nominations in each area being cleaned up during the week.

The kind of work that the offenders will be doing includes graffiti removal, improving neglected buildings that need to be revitalised, clearing rubbish from churchyards, and improving the facilities and safety of local parks.

The winning projects are cleaned up during Clean Up Week. The remaining projects don't miss out either - they'll be cleaned up during 2006.

Clean Up Week is part of a wider, year-round scheme called Community Payback.

The Community Payback scheme takes unpaid work a step forward by giving communities a greater say in the kind of work offenders undertaking unpaid work do. It’s part of the government’s initiative to increase the involvement of communities in criminal justice activities.

It aims to make unpaid work carried out by offenders more visible and more representative of communities’ needs.

To make the work done by offenders more visible, offenders may wear protective clothing branded with the Community Payback logo. Supervising probation staff will also have branded badges and vehicles.

To vote for a project in your clean-up area visit http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/justice/probation/clean-up-week/voting-areas/