Torbay council scoops national ‘Most Improved’ award

Prestigious award recognises staff's hard work

Torbay Council is the ‘Most Improved Council’ in the country!

The local authority collected the accolade at the prestigious Local Government Chronicle Awards in London this week.

Council leader David Thomas (Con, Preston) was there to hear the news and said afterwards: “It’s great. It’s a real recognition of our staff’s fantastic hard work.”

The organisers say the awards “recognise and celebrate the absolute best in local government.”

Torbay won its ‘Most Improved’ category from a shortlist that also included councils in Lewisham, Melton, Peterborough and South Kesteven.
Judging was completed before the local council elections in May, after which a coalition of Liberal Democrat and Independent councillors relinquished control of Torbay to a new Conservative administration.

Cllr Steve Darling (Lib Dem, Barton with Watcombe) led the council for four years up until the May elections.
He said: “This victory is bittersweet for me as an individual, but it is extremely good news for the council, and shows that we left Torbay in a much better place than we found it.”

Cllr Darling said key elements in the council’s awards success included the turn-around in children’s services, which improved its ratings in recent years from ‘inadequate’ to ‘good’.

Mr Darling says that led to being able to keep a firm grip on council finances, which in turn enabled the council to invest in services such as SWISCo, its waste and recycling service.

“It’s something that we in Torbay should be very proud of,” he added. “It has changed what Torbay is all about. We were seen as a basket case, now we are seen as something to aspire to.”

Cllr Thomas said: “The judges spoke about cultural change in a number of departments, and Children’s Services moving to ‘Good’ played a big part in this.

“It’s a team effort. It’s about councillors getting involved and being on that journey.”

And, he said, the award would give the new administration a platform to go ahead with Torbay’s major ‘place’ projects including seafronts and town centres.

“That’s where our focus has to be now,” he said. “What a fantastic position for the council to be in!”