Council wins prestigious award

Published: 17 July 2020

Great Chart with Singleton Parish Council has received a prestigious award as part of the Local Council Award Scheme. This achievement recognises that the council achieves good practice in governance, community engagement and council improvement. Moreover, the Council goes above and beyond their legal obligations, leading their communities and continuously seeking opportunities to improve and develop even further.

The Award Scheme report highlighted the council’s particular areas of strength, including its two popular play parks and the two parish stewards who ensure the local area is kept clean, tidy and well maintained.

The Local Council Award Scheme is a peer assessed programme that has been designed to both provide the tools and encouragement to those councils at the beginning of their improvement journeys, as well as promoting and recognising councils that are at the cutting edge of the sector. It is through the sector working together to share best practice, drive up standards and supporting those who are committed to improving their offer to their communities that individual councils and the sector as a whole will reach its full potential.

Great Chart with Singleton Parish Council’s own Chairman was quoted as being "over the moon with our Parish Council receiving the Quality Award, it is recognition for all the hard work done on behalf of our Community.  We have a great team of Councillors and together with our Parish Steward and his assistant and especially our Parish Clerk and her Assistant this achievement is a welcome reward."

In terms of the future, the council is now reviewing ways in which it can keep on improving its offer to the local community and welcomes input from local people and partners on this. Great Chart with Singleton Parish Council, and other local councils like it, are at the front line of the government’s localism agenda and are doing as much as they can to delivery services whilst being efficient and cost-effective. Currently the council provides a range of services such as a regular Pop Up Cafe and Community Engagement sessions where residents are invited to meet informally with councillors, PCSO's and local organisation representatives. The council regularly arranges bike marking, picnics and community cinema events and would like to continue to improve its community engagement through these.