Buckinghamshire Council

LGC’s Council of the Year will be the council which has the most learning and inspiration to offer the rest of local government. The winner should demonstrate underlying sustained strong performance, innovation and excellent leadership across the broad spectrum of its work. Judges will be asked to disregard any advantages a council has based on its size or location, and they will not award Council of the Year on the basis of the scale of the Covid challenge a council has faced. The winner will be chosen on the basis of the delivery of strong outcomes, the quality of the council’s community leadership, and the evidence that the council is doing the best for its area, all in response to the specific challenge the council has faced in all areas of its work. Judges will also look for qualities including resilience, compassion, inclusion and adaptability, as well as the quality of the council’s cooperation with partners. This award is open to a council or, in exceptional circumstances, a partnership of councils – for instance when two councils share the same officer leadership.

Two years ago, Buckinghamshire launched a brand-new unitary council and pledged to deliver on four promises: to create a single voice, to become more local, to ensure better quality, and be more efficient. In the face of significant challenge and alongside the outbreak of a global pandemic, Buckinghamshire Council embarked on a system-wide and ambitious programme of transformation that has delivered a collaborative and ambitious unitary authority that has not shied away from crisis or challenge and has made significant progress in improving services.