Conservative-led West Lindsey District Council Named Best Council For Refuse Collections Service

Conservative-led West Lindsey District Council's Operational Service Team has been voted the best in the country for its bin collections, for the second year running.

Steve Leary with Coronation Street star Catherine
Tyldesley and Cllr Malcolm Parish

West Lindsey District Council kerbside collections of the black, blue and green bins have been awarded Best Performer in England: Refuse Collection by the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE). APSE is a national benchmarking group that promotes excellence in public services among over 300 councils.

The winners were announced at a charity dinner in Blackpool, hosted by Coronation Street star Catherine Tyldesley who plays Eva Price. Chairman of Prosperous Communities Committee, Cllr. Malcolm Parish , Conservative (Welton Ward), said:

“I am very proud of our waste people, they have done a brilliant job. To have won this award two years in a row, is absolutely amazing. 

“It is fantastic news, and our residents should be really proud that we have been voted as having the best refuse collectors in the country. 

“Every week our collection teams empty up to 60,000 bins across an area of 447 square miles. Winning this award is national recognition for their efforts in delivering highly valued public services."

Opening the awards APSE National Chair Leon Unczur said:

“Local councils have led the way on delivering first class local public services. Using performance information has been a vital tool in that success.”

Leader of West Lindsey District Council, Cllr Jeff Summers, Conservative (Waddingham & Spital Ward), said:

“West Lindsey residents are doing fantastically well to recycle more than half a tonne of waste materials per household each year.  

“It is testament not only to all the hard work that council officers have put in but also the way in which residents have played their part in making the triple bin scheme such a success. Together, we prevented more than 20,000 tonnes of waste going into landfill last year – saving money and protecting the environment.”

The council was considered against several measures including cost, quality of service, the tonnes of domestic waste recycled per household, the percentage of household waste that is diverted from landfill, and customer satisfaction. The council was highly praised for maintaining its position as one of the highest recycling authorities in the country – despite making significant cost savings. The recycling rate stands at around 54% and the cost of all collections is only just over £1 per property per week on average.

Conservative-Led West Lindsey Wins Gold

Carol Smillie presents the awards to Cllr. Burt Keimach,
Manjeet Gill, the Chief Executive and representatives of
West Lindsey District Council

Conservative-led West Lindsey District Council has won gold at the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) Service Awards 2012.

The award recognises the way the council managed roles within the authority to minimise cuts to service delivery. Officers and councillors have embraced the ‘entrepreneurial model’ and are keen to explore new ways of working for the benefit of local residents. This has helped the council avoid the level of services cuts that other councils nationally have made.

Six councils were selected as finalists for the Best Employee and Equality Initiative but the council’s Workforce Transformation submission captured the eye of judges.

West Lindsey District Council was named the winner at a glittering award ceremony in Glasgow. APSE also recognised the successful formula in a recent article they published highlighting how other councils can avoid service cuts from this way of working.

Over the last two years a lot of work has gone into developing the positive values, cultural changes, empowering staff and the development of leadership and skills.

This has led to:

• No compulsory redundancies
• Opportunities for people to develop themselves
• A stronger corporate one team ethos
• Working together across all departments to have a greater focus on results for residents

Presenter, Carol Smillie handed the award to the Leader of the Council, Cllr. Burt Keimach. He said:

"For the council to come first in the UK, from more than 300 councils overall to scoop the Best Employment and Equality Initiative Award, is fantastic. To me this proves that the way we treat people who work for us is the right and proper way. I would like to give a salute to everyone involved."

The APSE service awards are unique in the local government calendar because they reflect frontline service achievements ranging from refuse collection to council run leisure centres.

The council also picked up three other certificates for becoming finalists in three other categories:

• Best Public/Private Partnership Working for the way we work with parish councils and other partners on projects such as flooding.
• Best Local Democracy for the way our officers and councillors work together.
• Overall Council of the Year 2012. The council was shortlisted alongside Sheffield City Council and Nottingham County Council, which is an achievement as we were the only district council in this category.

Speaking about the awards APSE chief executive Paul O’Brien described the finalists as the ‘elite’ in the sector. He said:

"The winners of the APSE service awards 2012 are truly the gold medallists of local government. They have strived for excellence in service delivery and put in that extra effort to ensure that they deliver the very best in frontline services."