Bankstown City Council and Ku-ring-gai Council have been named joint winners of the AR Bluett Memorial Award.
Bankstown City Council focused its submission for the Award around ‘Twisting Tradition’, highlighting the innovative ways Council delivered traditional services to residents.
Examples included council’s projects against illegal dumping that led to the Environmental Protection Agency establishing the new Inner West Regional Illegal Dumping Squad in Bankstown and advocating that led to legislative changes including custodial sentencing for serial dumpers.
Councils also constructed the state-of-the-art Bankstown Library and Knowledge Centre, a unique and award-winning community building in South Western Sydney.
Mayor of Bankstown, Linda Downey, said the award reinforces Council’s position as a leader in the Local Government sector.
“Council has worked very hard over the past few years to provide and deliver quality services and initiatives to our residents, with 92 percent of residents satisfied with Council’s performance.
“This Award is a fantastic achievement for our City and makes us the envy of many other councils.”
“Rather than being content on just delivering services and programs, Council has gone further by looking to the future and identifying the long term benefits to our community.
“While this award recognises our forward thinking approach, we are determined to keep making improvements for our community, so there will be no resting on any laurels. It’s what our residents have come to expect of us.”
Ku-ring-gai Mayor Jennifer Anderson said that she was delighted with the award.
“We are very pleased that the judges have recognised Ku-ring-gai’s ability to deliver major projects for our community by a combination of good planning, financial acumen and innovation.
“The new emergency services headquarters, the new Council depot at Pymble, the refit of Gordon Library and construction of the Ku-ring-gai Fitness & Aquatic Centre are just a few of the Council’s major projects in the past two years
“Added to that is our strong financial performance and ability to plan for our expanding population through a comprehensive program of land acquisition for public open space”.
