Bedfordshire County Council wins MJ magazine Achievement Award

27 June 2008

Bedfordshire County Council has won the MJ magazine Customer Service Achievement of the Year Award.

The fantastic news was announced at last night’s prestigious awards ceremony in London, hosted by Channel 4 newsreader Jon Snow.

The council was a finalist in a record four out of 16 categories at the awards, which recognise top quality services and performance.

Cllr Madeline Russell, Leader of Bedfordshire County Council, said: "This really is terrific news for Bedfordshire County Council. We have received an award which is highly regarded and recognised throughout local government.

"The atmosphere at the awards was fantastic. The evening was an opportunity for us to continue to celebrate and share in our achievements.

"I am extremely proud of the hard work and commitment of staff and councillors and I am overjoyed this has been recognised by the MJ."

Bedfordshire County Council won the Customer Service Achievement of the Year Award for the considerable improvements made to home to school transport. The School Transport Improvement Project has seen the introduction of a fleet of brand new, easily identifiable, yellow school buses.

The new buses, which come equipped with CCTV and seatbelts, began operation in January 2006. There are now 24 buses operating in the area, covering a total of 32 home to school journeys. The overall aim of the buses was to provide the same vehicle for the same route every day, to give children travelling to school a better experience. Since the buses were introduced, behaviour has improved considerably.

Cllr Tom Wootton, Bedfordshire County Council Executive Member for Highways, said: "Our yellow buses have been a fantastic success - the number of other councils who have looked at what we have done proves that. I am very proud of the team that made this possible. What they have achieved is wonderful."

A total of 173 local authority projects were shortlisted or commended at the awards this year.

For more information, please visit the LocalGov| (new window) website.

Read our submissions

 Customer Service Yellow Buses| (PDF document opens in new window)

 Leadership| (PDF document opens in new window)

 Protection| (PDF document opens in new window)

 Public Service| (PDF document opens in new window)

ENDS