P.E.P. lessens lawlessness, says mayor

Press, 18 March 1985, Page 24

P.E.P. lessens lawlessness, says mayor

PA Dargaville Any attempt by the Government to reduce Project Employment Programme schemes could cause "a new wave” of anti-social behaviour from one end of New Zealand to the other, says the Mayor of Dargaville, Mr Peter Brown. The P.E.P. scheme had gone a long way to lessening lawlessness and antisocial attitudes, he said. “We had a serious gang problem in Dargaville not very long ago, but no longer,” he said. Improved P.E.P. schemes had generated “new attitudes” among some P.E.P. workers and given them work and social status. P.E.P. workers now took pride in their work where

before the scheme had been a “bad, time-consuming joke,” and a flagrant waste of taxpayers' money. “If you take away the positive direction which the P.E.P. scheme now creates you are just transferring the matter into a problem for the police,” said Mr Brown. Feedback from the community clearly favoured its continuance, he said. “Residents see well made footpaths, carefully tended green areas, and other works carried out by P.E.P.' workers and regard these efforts worth every cent the scheme costs,” Mr Brown said. A committee of members of Parliament is assessing the range of Governmentassisted job programmes.