Over the past few weeks, we have received over 140 nominations for Council of the Month, each with inspiring and heart-warming detail of Councils and Councillors working tirelessly for their local area.
We divided the nominations up into five groups and five members of the PSE team began reading through and narrowing it down to a shortlist for each group. Choosing only one for each group was very difficult, which is why a number of nominations from each group will be carried forward to be re-entered into the competition for next month.
Every single nomination we received deserves this award, with hard work and determination coming through clearly in each one. We want to take this opportunity to thank Council’s for getting their residents through this period and we will be mentioning every nominated council in the upcoming issue of PSE magazine.
Here are our final five – Please cast your votes in the poll on twitter @psenews
Reading Borough Council
For outstanding community spirit
“In the aftermath of the Forbury Garden Attacks in Reading on 20 June 2020, colleagues from right across Reading Borough Council worked under tremendous pressure to respond and provide reassurance to the community across the town. I'm tremendously proud of all their hard work, which has been integral to keeping the victims of the incident, alongside their loved ones, at the heart of our response. Moreover, their efforts have kept Reading’s community from being divided by hate and ensured that we all continue to celebrate our diverse and cohesive town. It has been the most magnificent team effort.”
London Borough of Hounslow
For contributions to the climate emergency
“For their recognition and declaration for the climate emergency and their support for their residents by implementing various green initiatives using public money quickly and efficiently to decarbonise the air within the borough. This action is specifically highlighted by their purchase of Ubitricity lamp post EV charging sockets, as this shows leadership and innovative approach by using low-cost technology to offer a high-density number of charge points, giving convenient access to electricity to charge an EV on the street within residential streets, especially relevant for residents who don't have a driveway to be able to charge an EV at home, of which I believe a high % of residential stock in the borough don't have driveways. Their action shows a clear path ahead for residents of Hounslow to be able to easily switch to drive an electric vehicle, cleaning the air we breathe, sustaining our fragile environment.”
Belfast City Council
For fighting for local growth
“CITY DEAL TEAM, Council has been negotiating a very ambitious Growth Deal for close to £1 billion with UK Treasury. The project had reached a critical stage in development of business cases and despite the move to remote working the Belfast Region City Deal Team have kept the consultants and stakeholders moving forward and all the component parts in place and at the same time championed a piece of work to develop new proposals around Digital Resilience and Recovery. if anything, this team has been working harder than before lockdown and have shown a renewed passion to deliver the outcomes, particularly in respect of the challenges related to Skills and Employability.”
Richmond Council
For innovative communication with the community
“Richmond Council has thought outside the box with innovative communications during the Pandemic – engaging with over 111,000 people each week in a weekly newsletter, generating 123,755 views on the Council’s dedicated Covid-19 webpages, achieving over 4 million Twitter impressions and over 252,000 Facebook engagements from March-June 2020 while generating over 139,000 views on YouTube. The Council has held virtual engagement sessions with the Leader of the Council via Facebook Live achieving over 2,000 views and facilitating online engagement sessions with hundreds of residents via Zoom. Richmond Council have also used the pandemic to launch a new borough focused Podcast.”
Kirklees Council
For creative solutions for young learners
“I want to nominate Kirklees Council in particular its provision for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and vulnerable learners. The council has worked in partnership with schools, partners and parents to support access to education and care for children and young people with SEND and vulnerable learners throughout the Covid-19 public health crisis. I have been amazed at the innovative and creative ways in which schools have provided support using a mix of school based, outreach and online learning to engage young people with a range of additional needs. An example of this would be for an extremely vulnerable learner with complex social emotional and mental health needs, who has been in crisis during the Covid-19 lockdown, school have facilitated a socially distanced walk with two members of staff as this has been as much as this young person could tolerate, it would have been easy to have left this young person at home but they have persisted and this has seen positive benefits in terms of emotional regulation. Transition groups have been supported to access their new schools by creating 'transition bubbles' in a tepee on school fields, and visiting their new classroom when other learners have gone home. SEND assessment and reviews have continued during Covid-19 using remote assessment and digital technology. The list of creative solutions to supporting families access services has been incredible.”
Please cast your votes in the poll thread on twitter below, feel free to share with others, and await the results in the next issue of PSE magazine.
