City of Wolverhampton Council is celebrating success after its ongoing transformation was recognised at a national local government awards ceremony in London last night (Thursday 16 June).

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The council scooped the award for Best Council Service for its leisure brand WV Active and was named as a highly commended runner up in the prestigious and strongly contested Local Authority of the Year category.

The awards were organised by the Municipal Journal (MJ) and presented by television comedian Dara O' Briain.

Leader of the Council, Councillor Roger Lawrence, said: "I'm delighted that the council's ongoing transformation has been recognised in this way. We were rigorously assessed against our peers and there were over 500 entries across the 17 categories.

"Despite the very difficult financial challenges we face, we're determined to think differently about what we do and focus on delivering the best customer service possible.

"We also want to be innovative - like countless generations of Wulfrunians who went before us - and I think the judges recognised this.

"WV Active is a great example. Our commercialisation of the service is improving the offer for customers and memberships have shot up. We have also cut costs from £2 million a year to £500,000.

"That we received these 2 fantastic accolades and were recognised in 3 other categories is a testament to the hard work, dedication and support of our employees, our partners and our communities."

The council was also a finalist in 3 other categories: Delivering Better Outcomes for its ground breaking HeadStart programme, Innovation in Partnership for its work on The Way Youth Zone with city partners and best legal services.

Michael Burton, editorial director of The MJ awards, said: "We launched our awards 13 years ago to showcase the huge talent and innovation that exists, often below the radar, among local authority teams. This year shows that despite a difficult budgetary environment this talent is undiminished."

Heather Jameson, editor of The MJ, said: "Judging by the calibre of the entries we had, innovation is alive and well in local government. What is especially impressive is the dedication of local authority teams to the services they provide and to the users, many of them disadvantaged."

  • released: Friday 17 June, 2016