MORE than £50,000 has been handed out to Bradford community groups in the latest round of grants from the Safer Communities Fund.

Centrepoint, Relate Bradford, Horton Housing Association and Bradford Nightstop are among those to benefit.

More than 30 groups across West Yorkshire were awarded a share of £148,825 by West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson.

The Safer Communities Fund is financed by money seized from criminals under the Proceeds of Crime Act for local community safety initiatives.

Mr Burns-Williamson said: “I am delighted to see the impact the fund has had and continues to have.

“The most common focus of projects is on reducing crime, reoffending, tackling anti-social behaviour and supporting victims and witnesses. I am looking forward to visiting personally as many of the projects as possible and have attended numerous groups already and witnessed the fantastic impact that even small amounts of money can make to community projects.

“I really enjoy being at these awards events and am delighted to provide the successful applicants with money that will have a real impact in our local communities.

“Being able to give out grants from the Safer Communities Fund is one of the best parts of my role. It’s truly heartening to see what a difference relatively small amounts of money can make in our communities and I am continually impressed by the amount of worthy causes and organisations applying to the Fund.

“I would ask everyone to think of the good a grant of up to £5,000 could do in their community and spread the word as far as possible about the fund.”

Assistant Chief Constable Russ Foster said: “The Proceeds of Crime Act is an excellent piece of legislation, enabling the police and other law enforcement agencies to hit criminals where it hurts, taking the money they have illegitimately obtained through their criminal activity and putting the money back into local communities in order to support worthy causes.

“Rest assured – we will continue to robustly pursue criminals and take every opportunity to seize their illegally-obtained assets.”

The fund has now given £1.3 million to charities, voluntary groups and organisations. How to apply can be found at westyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk/safer-communities-fund.