Inverclyde wins most improved council roads team at national award

Journalist Lucy Siegle, Steven Walker of Inverclyde Council and Mike Harper from Stirling Lloyd - Photo credit: Inverclyde Council

Inverclyde Council has won a top UK award celebrating innovation and improvement in delivering services to local communities for the second year running.

The council was named most improved performer in Roads, Highways and Winter Maintenance at the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) awards 2016.

Environment and regeneration convener Councillor Michael McCormick said: “I am delighted the hard work and dedication of the roads team has again been recognised and I would like to offer my congratulations to all involved.

“Inverclyde Council has invested heavily in improving our roads, reducing flooding, improving parking and putting into place the cycling, walking and safer street programme.

“All this has been achieved with a high level of customer satisfaction thanks to working closely with other services, elected members, local businesses, utility companies and other organisations.

“Despite the huge financial pressure they are under they have managed to deliver projects within budget as well as taking into account the views of local people when developing services that are so important to our local communities.”

The APSE awards recognise the best and most improved councils in frontline service delivery.

They are designed to acknowledge local authorities that have taken part in sharing data to ensure they are delivering good local services using information on cost, quality and benchmarking.

APSE chief executive Paul O’Brien said: “The winners and finalists of these awards are proof that, despite the squeeze of austerity and continuous budget cuts, local councils can still offer excellent frontline services that successfully serve their communities. It is a pleasure to be working with these innovative, determined champions of local government.”