Major award for Swansea Council at UK-wide ceremony

A SWANSEA Council department has won team of the year at a major national ceremony.

The Corporate Building and Property Services department was recognised as the UK’s best for the way it manages waste and recycling at the annual APSE (Association of Public Service Excellence) awards.

A comprehensive strategy means the department is now producing 52% less waste than eight years ago. This has led to a cost saving of £1.4 million and the diversion of more than 12,000 tonnes of waste from landfill.

In the 2014/2015 financial year, 93% of the remaining waste was recycled, with the remaining 7% going as waste to energy. This strategy means the department has maintained prestigious Green Dragon Level 5 status since 2010 for its commitment to environmentally-friendly, sustainable practices.

Swansea Council was also shortlisted in a number of other categories, including overall council of the year.

The awards were the culmination of a two-day APSE conference at the Brangwyn Hall that welcomed hundreds of delegates from across the UK.

Cllr Clive Lloyd, Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Transformation and Performance, said: “Our Corporate Building and Property Services department deserve particular praise for winning a UK-wide award, but staff whose work contributed to the council being shortlisted in a number of other categories deserve praise, too.

“Recognition for so many of our services is especially pleasing, given the unprecedented financial challenges we’re facing, so our staff should get huge credit for their resilience, commitment and innovation. It was also a fantastic coup for us to be the only Welsh council on the shortlist of eight that were in the running to be named best overall council in the UK.

“The refurbished Brangwyn Hall was a terrific setting for the conference and the awards, with many of the delegates saying how staggered they were at Swansea’s beauty. I even heard some people saying it had encouraged them to book holidays here in future.”

Some of the other categories Swansea Council was shortlisted for included best employment and equality initiative, best partnership working initiative with the private sector, and best service team of the year for street cleansing and streetscene.

Recent figures from the Welsh Government and Local Government Data Unit also show the council, compared with the year before, improved in about half of the 43 performance indicators that were measured.