AN innovative project is giving Banbury school leavers confidence as well as helping the environment and getting them from A to B.

Since February, about 80 bikes have been collected from Alkerton Household Waste Recycling Centre to work on by young people. Visitors to the Banbury Hub are taught to strip bikes down, repair components and rebuild them for their own use.

Among those who have benefited is unemployed Banbury School leaver Shane Phillips, 16. He said of the ‘Re-cycle’ project: “It gives you a lot of achievement and I’m learning stuff as well. “It is good fun and I’d tell other young people just to do it, they will enjoy it.”

The Grimsbury youngster, who has completed six bikes, said: “I knew a mate who used to come down here in school time. “He got a bike out of it, he did it up, so I started coming down here on Friday nights.”

Now he is looking at taking an apprenticeship through the hub, run from Banbury Youth Centre, Hilton Road. Cary Johnston, a community work at the centre, said: “He has got a lot of confidence out of it.

“It offers young people a chance to gain a practical skil. “It gives them confidence, helps their self-esteem and engages them in a positive activity.”

More than half a tonne of bikes have been brought from the Alkerton recycling centre in Stratford Road to be worked on. Mr Johnston said: “It is helping the community and getting the young people to engage in a healthy lifestyle because they are cycling after that.

“Most of the young people haven’t got enough income in their family to get a bike. If they have got one they are often not roadworthy.”

Similar schemes have been set up with other recycling centres run by Oxfordshire County Council. Oxfordshire Waste Partnership spokesman Becky Lake said: “People often bring in really good quality bikes and although they can be put in the metal container for recycling, we would much rather see them be used again.

“We would like to encourage people in Banbury to take any old bikes they have to Alkerton so that they can be given a new lease of life.” For information about the scheme call 01865 328440.