Mid and East Antrim Borough Council shortlisted for five Local Government Awards

The 2018 Local Government Awards are co-ordinated by the Association of Public Service Excellence (APSE) and NILGA.

78 entries were received from NI's councils, across nine public service categories.

Mid and East Antrim has been shortlisted in the following categories: 

• Best Local Authority Service Team
   
• Best Enterprise Initiative by a Council
   
• Best Local Authority Community Planning Initiative (two nominations)
   
• Excellence in Environmental Sustainability by a Local Authority.

Mayor of Mid and East Antrim Councillor Lindsay Millar:

“These awards recognise and celebrate excellence in public service provision.

“Congratulations to our staff at Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, who provide a first-class service to our ratepayers. This is deserved recognition of their hard work and commitment.”

Council Chief Executive Anne Donaghy said: “We are a multi-award winning, high performing and increasingly efficient council which prides itself on being a leader on local government transformation in Northern Ireland.

“These nominations are the result of the incredible work of our staff day in, day out and I thank them for their continued efforts and commitment to delivering an excellent service for our ratepayers.”

Councillor Dermot Curran, NILGA President, said: “We’re almost a full electoral term on from the big changes to local government.

"A huge amount of hard work and vision has gone into modernising councils for local communities, businesses and visitors – as well as meeting needs of wider government and civic society.

“As impact grows and performance improves right across our 11 councils, these awards are testimony to how local government is truly at the hub of developing locally designed solutions to local need, as well as planning for a sustainable future.

"They also provide fantastic learning tools for councils, in an environment where every penny counts.

“We can do things better by learning from the best. Excellence and efficiency are things that NILGA is passionate about, as reflected in the tremendous diversity from our membership, across 78 submissions.” 

APSE Chief Executive, Paul O'Brien: “Communities thrive with innovative, local services and after the period of transition, the new councils in Northern Ireland are exhibiting real evidence of world class work.

"Recognition in these awards is richly deserved and demonstrates a genuine commitment to delivering excellence in local government for the communities they are clearly proud to serve.”

The Awards cover nine categories and sponsor partners / support bodies contributing are: Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE); William Johnston Memorial Trust (WJMT); Enterprise Northern Ireland; Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers (SOLACE); Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA); National Association of Councillors (NAC); Sustainable NI; Quarry Products Association (QPANI) and Tourism NI.

Nominees were judged by an independent panel and the finalist councils in each category will be invited to the Gala Awards Recognition Evening as the culmination of NILGA’s Flagship Annual Conference, ‘Building Sustainable Communities, Delivering a Better Northern Ireland for Everyone’, at the Armagh City Hotel, Armagh, on Thursday 11th October 2018.