Barnsley Council wins ‘prestigious’ Council of the Year award

Barnsley Council beat a six-strong competition in Buckinghamshire Council, Cornwall Council, Inverclyde Council, Salford City Council and West Lindsey DC to win the Council of the Year award on Wednesday night (June 7).

The judges reportedly made in-person visits to all six councils in the weeks leading up to the ceremony, before they underwent rigorous live judging for the headline award category.

They said: “This council demonstrated a comprehensive and impressive performance across all of its domains. They have delivered an extremely impressive regeneration of the town centre funded by the council’s own money, that is clearly bringing huge benefits to its communities. This council was a clear winner.”

In a celebratory post, Barnsley Council claimed the award recognises their “strong performance, innovation, excellent leadership and approach to partnership working”.

Barnsley Council leader Councillor Sir Steve Houghton added: “Winning this award is truly an amazing achievement for Barnsley.

“When austerity hit, we took brave decisions early on and despite losing a higher percentage of our budget than almost every other council in the country, we were able to change the way we worked, invest in our borough, and we’ve developed an enviable reputation for good budget management.

“The judges had the opportunity to see for themselves the impact our area council and ward alliance work including the reach of our more money in your pocket work to address the cost of living crisis, and our commitment to increasing opportunities for our young people.

“Describing Barnsley as the ‘place of possibilities’ is not just a vision or a phrase. It sums up how Barnsley has reinvented itself. Our transformation has been built on a great foundation of strong partnerships, a real understanding of our communities and the hard work, dedication and vision of our employees.”