Council awarded for excellence in approach to working with partners

Cheltenham Borough Council has been recognised as one of the very best in the UK at a prestigious awards ceremony.

The iESE award ceremony held on Wednesday, 8 September 2021, celebrated outstanding work from local authorities and public service groups from across the UK vying for gold, silver and bronze in 16 distinct categories.

The council received silver in the ‘Working Together’ category at the iESE Awards, which celebrated and shared the most innovative practice in transforming local public services.

The award recognised the way in which during the Covid-19 pandemic, the council rapidly simplified its services for residents and local businesses, brought together multiple contact points through community work help hub the delivery of community grants and rapid business support through grants and innovative processes to provide temporary structures for businesses.

The silver award was collected on behalf of council by Cllr Rowena Hay, leader of Cheltenham Borough Council, Cllr Hay said: ‘’I’m thrilled that the council has won this prestigious accolade. Team Cheltenham rose to the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. The council showed proactive and innovative responses, supporting nearly 1,000 Cheltenham residents during the COVID-19 lockdown thanks to a partnership approach with the Cheltenham Trust and Cheltenham Borough Homes as part of the Gloucestershire Help Hub.

‘’Communities and businesses also saw support grants being swiftly paid and represented a lifeline to many. The council has also been recognised for our ambitious roadmap to lead recovery, continuing our progress to make Cheltenham the Cyber Capital of the UK as part of the overarching Golden Valley development, which will bring sustainable infrastructure, housing and employment opportunities.’’

Chief executive, Gareth Edmundson, continued: “We strive for excellence and I’m pleased to see our agility in responding to a variety of requests during the pandemic, being recognised.

‘’I’m proud that through our excellent partnership working we were not only one of the first council’s in the country to pay-out grants to businesses but we continued our services despite the pandemic challenges. Looking forward, our flagship pioneering joint venture with partners, sees the  multi-million pound investment scheme, Minster Exchange, continue at pace to deliver the state of the art workspace for the cyber tech, digital and creative sectors.”

The iESE awards also recognised the council’s communications efforts with a gold award for their work on LinkedIn, developing the council’s profile into one of the UK’s most engaging local government LinkedIn pages.

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Notes:

iESE - Created by local authorities as a shared resource to transform public services and retain experience within the sector, iESE has a successful track record of delivering transformation and service improvement programmes across the UK.