"Excellent" Rating for Warwick District Council

6.26.00pm GMT Mon 1st Nov 2004

Kenilworth Liberal Democrats have welcomed the Audit Commission's "EXCELLENT" rating of Warwick District Council, announced last week. This was not only the best result in the Midlands, but in the top 5% of the country's best run councils.

Two of the areas of council activity singled out for in-depth study and subsequent special praise were portfolios held by Liberal Democrat cabinet members: Housing - Cllr. Alan Boad (Lib Dem, Leamington Crown) and Leisure/Environment - Cllr. Margaret Begg (Lib Dem, Leamington Milverton).

John Whitehouse, Chairman of Kenilworth Liberal Democrats

John Whitehouse, Chairman of Kenilworth Liberal Democrats, said:

"This is a great vote of confidence in the joint Labour/Liberal Democrat administration, which took control of the council 18 months ago to howls of protest from the local Conservatives. It shows that cabinet-style local government can work very effectively, much better than the previous situation of all-party control, providing the right partners are involved."

Warwick District Council's results are in striking contrast with those for the two neighbouring local councils:

Stratford: Conservative cabinet Rating - "WEAK"

Rugby: Conservative cabinet Rating - "FAIR"

with the Tory-controlled Stratford council in particular being rated only 2 points above "POOR" - the level at which central government might have had to take over running of the council.

Cllr. Ann Blacklock

District Councillor Ann Blacklock (Lib Dem, Kenilworth Abbey) said:

"Our congratulations to Chief Executive Janie Barrett and all her team on this wonderful achievement. It shows what can be done with the right combination of dedicated staff and hard-working and committed councillors."