Council celebrates second Beacon success

Lib Dem run Woking Borough Council was awarded Beacon status under the `Promoting Sustainable Communities through the Planning Process' theme in Round 8 of the Beacon award scheme at an Oscar-style award ceremony in London last night (20th March 2007).

The Beacons Award scheme recognises excellence and innovation in local government. It is not just an award, but also a responsibility to share best practice and knowledge with other authorities. At the cutting edge of policy development, Beacons are often ahead of the curve in implementing the latest ideas. Each year, ministers set ten themes relevant to issues faced by authorities every day.

The Beacon awards are sponsored by Communities and Local Government and facilitated by the Improvement and Development Agency. The scheme is also sponsored by organisations such as: EDF Energy, Energy Saving Trust, World Wildlife Fund and Atkins Highways and Transportation.

To win this award, Woking Borough Council had to demonstrate that people have a say in how their community is run. They also had to show that:

there is improved access to affordable housing, jobs and local amenities and new developments are building more mixed communities

quality of life is improving in a way that safeguards the environment for future generations and has regard to wider regional impacts

there are good transport links to help people get to their jobs

the Council has successfully negotiated appropriate contributions from and amendments to schemes to reflect community needs and concerns

development is facilitated by planning and takes place with reviewed plan policies.

Marianne Hood, Chair of the Advisory Panel to the Beacons scheme congratulated Woking Borough Council and said: "Well done on your good work in promoting sustainable communities. This award recognises your authority's innovation and best practice as well as your commitment to sharing your work with other Best Value authorities to improve services across the country."

Angela Smith, Minister for Local Government said: "I would like to congratulate all the authorities that have been awarded Beacon status this year. You really are our local champions who have demonstrated service excellence, innovation and determination to share your expertise and act as a catalyst for improvements in other authorities too. The real prize of the Beacon scheme is the improvements to public services that everyone relies on day-by-day."

Speaking after the award ceremony, Woking Borough Council's Leader of the Executive, Cllr Sue Smith, said: "We are delighted that our work in this field has been recognised by the Beacons Award scheme. Woking could not have made progress with its sustainability agenda without many years of hard work by officers and councillors and the support of local people. We are looking forward to sharing our experiences with other local authorities."

Additional information

Woking Borough Council's achievements in the area of sustainable energy were formally recognised by the Beacon Awards Scheme in March 2005 at a special award ceremony at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster.

The Government established the Beacon Scheme in 1999 to identify excellence in local government and enable best practice to be shared with others. Ten themes are selected for the scheme each year. The themes against which Round 8 awards were made are as follows:

Delivering Cleaner Air

Electoral Services

Emergency Planning

Healthy Schools

Increasing Voluntary and Community Sector Service Delivery

Neighbourhood and Community Champions: The Role of Elected Members

Preventing and Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour

Promoting Financial Inclusion and Tackling Over-indebtedness

Promoting Sustainable Communities through the Planning Process

School Improvement

In this, the eighth round of the scheme, 41 Beacon awards have been given to 55 authorities, from an original pool of 174 applications involving 179 authorities.

£3m has been allocated for the active promotion of all the good practice identified during this round. This will cover traditional dissemination activities including learning events and open days.

Beacon status is awarded to authorities representing the diversity of local government - urban and rural, unitary and two-tier, and from different parts of the country. The scheme is relevant to all kinds of authorities, including fire, transport and police authorities.

The Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) will work with the successful authorities to organise bespoke learning events and activities. In advance of that, a Who's Who booklet will highlight all the shortlisted authorities in Round 8. The booklet is available from the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) at www.idea.gov.uk and on the CLG website at www.communities.gov.uk/beaconcouncils

An independent Advisory Panel makes recommendations to Ministers on the selection of Beacon authorities in each round. Ministers across Government then make final decisions.