AN award-winning Keighley drug and alcohol charity has shared in a £1m-plus pot of money seized from criminals.

Project 6 is amongst 68 community organisations and schemes across West Yorkshire to receive cash awards in the latest round of the Safer Communities Fund.

The charity has been granted £7,021, which it will use to increase engagement with its harm reduction services.

A Monday-morning breakfast club will provide people with warm food and a drink and supply thermal items, such as hats and gloves.

The session will be staffed by experienced harm reduction practitioners, and specialists will visit to offer care, plus advice on a range of topics including housing.

"This will be an opportunity for us to check in with people after weekends – when the risk of death from overdose and exposure increases," said a Project 6 spokesperson.

"The funding will also provide a new, retro video game machine for our needle exchange at Temple Street. The aim is to engage people in a fun and nostalgic way, encouraging them to stay longer and for us to be able to share information about contaminated substances."

The Safer Communities Fund, overseen by West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin, is financed through cash and assets recovered from criminals under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

In the latest round of grants, £1,091,079 was distributed, taking the total awarded to date to over £2.4m.

Central to the work of recovering criminal assets is the West Yorkshire Police economic crime unit, which focuses on tracking down money obtained through offences such as fraud and drug dealing.

Ms Brabin says: "I promised to deliver a safer, fairer West Yorkshire, and that’s exactly where this money is going.

"Every area of the county has groups of fantastic people who put their time and effort into making where they live better or helping people in need, and I'm very thankful we are able to support them with these grants.

"This fund would not be possible without the tireless work of the economic crime unit, so a huge 'thank you' goes to it for everything it does."

Her comments are echoed by West Yorkshire Police Chief Constable John Robins, who says: "The officers and financial investigators in our economic crime unit work hard to seize the cash and property of criminals. By doing so, they ensure crime does not pay."

For more about the Safer Communities Fund, visit westyorks-ca.gov.uk/MSCF