Cumbria scoops national reputation awards

Cumbria County Council has won a national award for the public budget consultation that asked the people of Cumbria how they thought the council should save £33million over the next year.

Council officers picked up the Gold Award for Community Engagement at the Local Government Communications Reputation Awards 2011.

The council also scooped a Silver Award in the Partnership category for its multi-agency work around Appleby Fair. The award, submitted by South Lakeland District Council, recognised the way the county and district councils, including Eden District Council, worked with Cumbria Constabulary and other agencies as well the local community and Gypsies and Travellers in co-ordinating the annual gathering.

The Local Government Communications Reputation Awards recognise the most successful examples of work that improve the reputation of councils all over the country. There were a total of 132 entries from 61 councils.

For the Community Engagement award, the judges looked for the organisations that have made excellent use of two-way communication and getting communities involved in important decisions. Cumbria County Council beat off tough competition from Cambridgeshire, Essex and Surrey county councils.

More than 1,500 people took part in the budget consultation which allowed the county council to shape its decisions about its priorities and service delivery in the face of the largest cutbacks in public expenditure since World War Two.

Cumbria County Council's leader Cllr Eddie Martin said: "This is a fantastic and well-deserved achievement. The recent budget cuts are the biggest that the county council has ever faced and finding ways to consult on these cuts with the people of Cumbria was a mammoth task that has been executed brilliantly. I'm delighted that Cumbria has been recognised as one of the best councils in the country for its reputation management."