Convicted criminals will be put to work across Wolverhampton as part of a £450,000 government cash injection revealed today to spruce up areas of the city.

The work will mean better fencing, new landscaping, extra rails and benches and woodland walks. Areas to benefit from the two-year programme include Tettenhall, Wednesfield, Penn, Low Hill, Merry Hill, Heath Town and Bilston. The first area to be improved is a plot of land behind Stanton Road, East Park, which has been derelict for 15 years and prone to fly-tipping.

The land will be renovated in a £15,000 scheme, with the back gardens of homes extended and new fencing put up so there is less available land to dump rubbish.

Holy Trinity churchyard in Bushbury Road, Heath Town, will also get ground levelling, footpaths and fresh plants and bulbs in a £27,000 makeover.

Trees will be thinned out and spruced up in Fowlers Park, Park Village, in a £10,000 project.

In addition, another £10,000 will be spent on filling in gaps in fencing at Northwood Park, to help prevent anti-social behaviour.

Wasteland in Warstones Road, Penn, described as “untidy and out of use” in a council report, will get £10,000 on landscaping, and another £10,000 will go on creating a woodland walkway in Mill Lane, Tettenhall.

In Dovedale Road, Woodcross, the green land adjacent to the cemetery used as a cut-through to Beacon Street will get £10,000 spent on lighting, four new benches, rubbish bins and shrub trimming.

In Bellamy Lane, Wednesfield, £21,000 is being put towards new landscaping, dog waste bins, and a mini-football pitch for children created on neglected green fields.

The cash has been awarded from the Government’s Working Neighbourhoods Fund.

A report going to the city council’s Tory cabinet next week says that “people who are on probation and need to develop skills to deter them from re-offending” will be involved.

Councillor Barry Findlay, cabinet member for the environment, said today: “It’s really good news for the city and will bring great benefits to all kinds of areas.”