Celebrating Success

We are constantly trying to improve ourselves and the quality of the services we provide to our residents. Our excellent services have been acknowledged externally by a number of different organisations. We continue to strive to be one of the best Borough councils in the country by providing our residents with high quality services that are good value for money. Below are some of our highlights:

• Use of Resources - |Elmbridge Recognised as One of the Best - for a Third Time
  For the third year running Elmbridge has been named as one of the best councils in the country by the Audit Commission. For the first time Elmbridge also scored 4 out of 4 for the much coveted "Value for Money" category - the only district in Surrey to have achieved this, and only one of 12 nationally.
  
  
• Customer Service Excellence (new Charter Mark)
  Community Support Services, Town Planning, Leisure and Cultural Services and Environmental Health & Licensing Division's Pest Control service have all secured Customer Service Excellence in 2009.
  
  Since 1996 a total of 16 Charter marks have been awarded, many services retaining them 3 or 4 times. The awards are the Government's recognition of excellent public service and are held for three years. These prestigious awards are given for high standards of service and a commitment to continuous improvement.
  
  
• SOCITM Transactional Status 2008-9
  The Socitm Better connected survey rated our website www.elmbridge.gov.uk as Transational. This important yearly survey reviews our website against over 450 local government websites in the UK. We were mentioned under good practice for no site errors, one of only 35 sites with no errors in 2009.
  
  
• Municipal Journal Awards 2009
  Elmbridge was 'commended' in the Councillor Development Achievement of the Year' category. We have successfully attained 'finalist' and 'commended' status the previous two years.
  
  
• Investors in People - 'Exemplary' in 2008
  Investors in People (IiP) is a nationally recognised, independent, business standard designed to advance the performance of an organisation through developing the people who work for it. Elmbridge has successfully achieved the IiP Standard for the second time. However, The Council chose to 'push the boundary' by being assessed against ten additional, challenging indicators over and above the normal standard. The exciting thing is that we were awarded the top level in six of the ten additional indicators and very good marks in the other four. Elmbridge is one of a few organisations in the country to achieve this 'exemplary' status. It means that the organisation is striving to improve by training its staff to ensure they are delivering good quality services to our local residents.
  
  
• ISPAL (Institute for Sport, Parks and Leisure) 'Active' award.
  'Active' is the name given to ISPAL's Health and Physical Activity Recognition Programme. This programme is designed to assist improvement and recognise organisationsthat use physical activity to improve the health of their local communities. This is the first time that any Local Authority has received this award corporately (previously, only Leisure Services departments had been successful).
  
  
• Best People Practice Award 2007
  Elmbridge Borough Council has won the prestigious CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development) 'Best People Practice Award' for its Elmbridge Heroes initiative.
  
  
• Resident Satisfaction Survey 2006
  83% of residents are happy with Elmbridge as a place to live and 68% of residents in the Borough are happy with the way the Council runs things. In total, 1637 residents responded to the survey. This represents an excellent response rate of 61% and was considerably higher than the 2003 survey, which achieved a 49% response rate.
  
  
• |Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA)
  Elmbridge Borough Council is an 'Excellent' authority as judged by the Audit Commission in April 2004. This is the highest grade possible.
  
  
• Double Tick for Positive about Disabled People
  The double tick symbol is a means of communicating to the people we employ and other disabled people who might be interested in applying for work at the Council that we have a positive approach to employing disabled people.
  
  
• Lexcel
  The Law Society has its own Practice Management Standard called Lexcel. Legal and Property Services have held this standard of excellence since October 2002 and has to pass a stringent annual reassessment to maintain the award and the right to use the symbol on our letterhead.
  
  
• ISO 9001:2000
  Building Control holds registration under ISO 9001:2000 and is audited annually by an independent body, the BSI.
  
  
• Quality Mark award for Assistive Information
  The Helpshop in Cobham was awarded the prestigious national Quality Mark award for Assistive Information from the Community Legal Service.
  
  
• Crystal Mark for Clarity
  Some of Local Taxation's most important documents have gained this award.
  
  
• Highest Ranking Surrey Authority for Cemeteries
  A Best Value Assessment Application (linked to the Charter for the Bereaved) was submitted to ICCM for ranking position with other burial authorities. As of May 05 we are the Highest Ranking Surrey Authority for cemeteries and in the top third Nationally.
  
  
• RoSPA Gold Award
  A RoSPA Play Quality Award was awarded to Leisure and Cultural Services. It recognises not only the play equipment but also acknowledges the high level of maintenance and site management that goes into making safe and fun play areas.
  
  
• Three Hearts
  The Countryside Agency, Walking the Way to Health Initiative (WHI) top quality mark of Three Hearts was awarded to the Elmbridge Healthy Walks Scheme. The aim of the Quality Mark is to set and maintain high standards for health walk schemes, to give potential users confidence about what to expect and to reassure users that the walks in their area are of good quality.
  
  
• Surrey Youth Games
  Elmbridge was the overall winner at the 2005 Surrey Youth Games and again in 2007.