Medium Team of the Year

Blackpool Council

Blackpool council’s growth and prosperity team delivering a £2bn regeneration programme

Blackpool Council’s bold £2bn investment programme is managed by a Growth and Prosperity team delivering over 25 major developments across the town. Regenerating the town centre, creating a year-round leisure economy and pursuing high value jobs in growth sectors, while leveraging unprecedented levels of public and private sector development funding, fits with a key strategic objective to create a growing economic environment for investment and growth. The team’s work is starting to have a major impact, creating jobs for local people and helping the town’s unemployment rate to buck the national trend for the right reasons.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council

The making a change team

The Making a Change team was created to protect and support young people (aged 10-17) presenting a high level of vulnerability and at particular risk of harm from child sexual and criminal exploitation and/or going missing from home. We are a unique offer, providing an intensive 7 day offer to support these children. Our relational approach is at the heart of our values and the outcomes we set to achieve. We work jointly with our partners to reduce the risk of extra familial harm, disrupt child exploitation, and look at future positive and happy prospects for our young people. 

Liverpool City Council

Eurovision Song Contest Host City Communications 2023

Eurovision didn’t make Liverpool. Liverpool made Eurovision. This year’s Eurovision Song Contest has been hailed the most successful in the competition’s history and Liverpool City Council’s Communications team played a pivotal role in its success. Manging the complex, multi-layered challenges of successfully delivering a communications strategy for the biggest-ever host city programme, was a project like no other. Delivered in half the usual time and on behalf of a country at war. The results speak for themselves. All KPIs achieved, global media coverage secured and Liverpool’s event-staging reputation remains unrivalled. 

Merton LBC

Air quality team at the regulatory services partnership

The Air Quality Team at the Regulatory Services Partnership (Merton, Richmond and Wandsworth) has been punching above its weight for years, with 2023 being the most exceptional yet. Delivering a portfolio of activities beyond the traditional statutory services, and demonstrating what shared services can deliver locally, as well as nationally. Accessing funding creatively and beyond the normal funding streams to deliver borough aspirations. Working with the private sector has been a key factor in success, alongside the commitment and passion of the team working toward reducing pollution and tackling the single largest environmental risk to health.

Brighter Futures for Children

Mental health support team, brighter futures for children

Reading’s Mental Health Support Team provides short-term evidence-based interventions for children and young people across 36 schools and colleges, to support mental health and emotional wellbeing, with a specific focus on prevention. The trailblazing team has always been ahead of the game, developing innovative and flexible approaches to meet the needs of children and young people from diverse communities and underrepresented groups, through co-production and collaborative working with partners from all sectors. In a 2023 survey, 100% of respondents from Reading agreed that working with the team has improved their overall approach to promoting positive mental health and wellbeing.

Southwark LBC

Old Kent Road team, planning & growth

The Old Kent Road team is a unique and innovative multi-disciplinary team which is delivering a 20-year programme of redevelopment in Southwark's Old Kent Road neighbourhood. In 2023, the team hit an ambitious target to get detailed planning permission approved for more than 9,500 new homes in the area. This scale of house building outstrips any comparable scheme in London and is vital in tackling the housing crisis. If the team also succeeds with its long-running campaign to secure the Bakerloo Line Extension along Old Kent Road, the total number of new homes will surpass 20,000.

Stockport MBC

Events and hospitality team

Our award-winning events and hospitality team are creative and innovative thinkers, constantly striving to make Stockport the place of choice for events and weddings in the North West. The small team prides itself on top-quality customer service and manages a portfolio of impressive venues, including three award-winning venues. Stockport has ambitious plans for the borough and its residents - this team plays a vital role in making Stockport the best place to live and work. The team has doubled income targets, undergone a re-brand to reach new audiences, and focused on team development to stay on top of their game.

Tower Hamlets LBC

Tackling poverty

The Tackling Poverty team in Tower Hamlets is tasked with supporting the most vulnerable residents in a borough with some of the most acute levels of poverty in the UK. In 2023 the cost-of-living crisis exposed the lack of financial resilience across the borough. The expertise the team holds on the drivers of poverty, how to support individuals, project management and effective partnership work meant we were uniquely well-placed to respond. We provided direct support and a crisis safety net, alongside longer-term holistic support, and ensured services were accessible to all in need.

Wiltshire Council

Coroner support service

Market issues meant that Wiltshire Council brought the statutory Coroner and Public Health duties - deceased body collection - in house. This was a multiagency and council-spanning undertaking, and was completed within three months. The team has performed with exemplary levels of professionalism and integrity in particularly difficult and challenging circumstances. It is also seen as industry-leading by partner organisations such as Wiltshire Police and other local authorities. Already, it has avoided Wiltshire and Swindon Council costs of more than £200,000 per annum and will also offer new areas of extra revenue and worldclass service to residents as it expands.

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