Babergh District Council, which serves the Shotley peninsula, was last night named UK Council of the Year in the prestigious iESE Awards 2024.

Babergh, along with neighbouring Mid-Suffolk, was named the winner at a ceremony at Church House, Westminster, London.

Stand in leader John Ward picked up the award on behalf of Babergh council, along with chief executive Arthur Charvonia, while Andrew Mellen represented neighbouring Mid-Suffolk.

Cllr Ward said: "Our teams show what can be achieved despite the challenging financial circumstances that local authorities face. Not just supporting residents and offering good services which are great value, but being innovative and helping create vibrant, thriving communities."

Babergh has been a consistent winner at the awards in various categories but this is the first time it has picked up the big one.

Babergh has a coalition cabinet consisting of three Independent councillors (Ward, Davis and Alistair McCraw). Greens; Deborah Saw, Sallie Davies, Jessica Carter and Daniel Potter, while Lib Dems have Dave Busby and Helen Davies.

The award is presented to a council deemed 'outstanding' in transforming its services and creating vibrant communities.

The judges praised the councils for their joint vision and innovation – achieving a number of UK firsts – and noted how, by working in collaboration with each other, with partners, and their communities, they continue to raise the bar for public services.

Chief Executive Arthur Charvonia said: "This is great recognition for our teams and the work they do to support residents and communities. 

"We are driven by wanting to deliver great services and make a positive difference in everything we do across our districts. Our teams have shown superb innovation in recent years to make this happen.

"At the same time, we are always honest about our imperfections – when we don't get it right, we want to learn and improve.

The councils has also led pioneering environmental work to cut carbon emissions.  

They were the first rural council in the UK to start the switch from diesel to hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) to fuel its fleet of bin lorries. Hundreds of solar panels have also been installed on the roofs of Kingfisher Leisure Centre in Sudbury, and Hadleigh Pool and Leisure. 

Solar covered parking bays have been installed at Kingfisher Leisure Centre and Mid Suffolk Leisure Centre – the councils were, again, among the first rural UK councils to trial the technology.