THE CENTRE of Coleford is looking better thanks to the work of local volunteers and offenders.

The clean-up campaign was the brainchild of Charlotte Davies who has worked with town and district councillor Clive Elsmore.

Teams of volunteers and up to 12 people on 'community payback' spent two days cutting back overgrown areas around car parks and the library and washing signs.

The area in front of the Co-op store was pressure washed and campaigners are hoping that it will be possible to clean up the area around the clock tower in the town centre.

Charlotte approached Gloucestershire Probation having previously worked with community payback teams who removed tons of rubble from the basement of Ruardean Church.

She said: "They have all worked very hard and their behaviour has been impeccable."

The clean-up was sponsored by the Co-op and by Beeches Garage in Mile End whose donation made the job of cleaning the road signs easier.

Charlotte said: "We tried using ordinary washing liquid but it wasn't getting anywhere near it and Beeches gave us some heavy duty cleaning fluid which was expensive and did a great job."