A PIONEERING Bradford community justice programme has won a national award.

The Neighbourhood Resolution Panel, run by West Yorkshire Probation, won the restorative justice category at the Howard League for Penal Reform's Community Programmes Awards, aimed at encouraging support for successful community sentences.

The awards were presented by the Princess Royal.

The Neighbourhood Resolution Panel brings together victims, criminal justice professionals and people who have committed offences to agree what action should be taken to deal with certain types of low-level crime and disorder.

It has used the approach with kerbcrawlers, police complaints, neighbour disputes, low-level hate incidents and, most recently, with low-level crime and anti-social behaviour associated with sporting events such as the Tour de France.

The panel has a 90 per cent victim satisfaction rate. Of the people who had offended, only three per cent have gone on to commit further crimes.

West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Mark Burns-Williamson, who has now commissioned the NRP panels in each district of West Yorkshire, said: “It is fantastic that the excellent work by the team in Bradford has been recognised at a national level."