Work done to help drug addicts through recovery will be the focus of a visit by the new Police and Crime Commissioner this month.

Marks Burns-Williamson will head to the Bridge charity in Manningham Lane for the visit on Tuesday, January 22, where he will meet those in recovery at the year-old Unity Recovery Centre, which helps those completely abstaining from drugs.

Chief executive of the Bridge, Jon Royle, said he was delighted that the commissioner had accepted their invitation.

Mr Royle said: “I appreciate the PCC has enormous responsibilities in his new role and it’s gratifying that an elected official is taking the time to meet with the people that deliver services on the front line and their clients.

“I hope to demonstrate to him the important role that drug treatment plays in preventing crime and there will be a chance for him to talk with former drug misusing offenders who have now turned their lives around and are helping others as our recovery volunteers.

“Drug treatment saves lives and saves society money by reducing crime and the impact on health and welfare services. It’s vital to our communities that we continue to have a reasonable level of funding to keep doing our work.

“The commissioner’s office will be hugely influential and it is my hope that he will champion the importance of services like ours with the Local Authority who will take over responsibility in 2013 for the planning and funding arrangements.”

Mr Burns-Williamson, said that the work that Bridge did to help people to stop using drugs was vitally important.

He added: “Not only in itself, but because of the impact on crime reduction, as many people commit crimes in order to fund their drug habits.

“Drug treatment is a much more cost effective way of dealing with the issue than taking up valuable police and health resources and I fully support the work of organisations like Bridge."