City of Wolverhampton Council Crowned ‘Council of the Year’

City of Wolverhampton Council was crowned Council of the Year at the ‘Oscars of local government’ and also scooped three other awards at a ceremony in London.

The council was the star of the show at the Municipal Journal (MJ) Awards held at London’s Hilton Park Lane Hotel and hosted by television star Joanna Lumley.

The MJ Awards are open to all councils across the country and are judged by a panel of leading experts.

This year City of Wolverhampton Council was a finalist in seven out of the 14 categories – which was more than any other council.

As well as winning the top accolade of Council of the Year, City of Wolverhampton Council also took home Most Improved Council, Senior Leadership Team of the Year and Excellence in Governance and Scrutiny.

It was also highly commended in the Impact and Learning in Children’s Services category.

Winning four awards is believed to be a record.

Heather Jameson, Editor of the MJ, said: “Judges praised City of Wolverhampton Council for delivering consistently excellent services across all key areas and the council was described as an outstanding example of modern local government where the resident is at the heart of sound commercial decision-making.

“It was a truly fabulous night and congratulations to all our winners and particularly City of Wolverhampton.”

City of Wolverhampton Council leader Cllr Roger Lawrence said that the outstanding success was independent recognition of the transformation of the authority over recent years.

He added: “Receiving these four fantastic accolades is a testament to the hard work we’ve invested into putting our residents at the heart of all we do, improving services and making our city a rising star within the local government world.

“I am delighted that we took home the top prize of the night, ‘Local Authority of the Year’ after being runner up last year.

“It shows the huge strides we have made on our transformation journey to become a confident, capable council. – and I would like to thank all those involved for helping make this possible.”

Managing director Keith Ireland said: “To be finalist in seven of the 14 categories and win four of those awards is absolutely fantastic. This is a real achievement for the city council, its residents. employees, councillors and partners.”