The council has been shortlisted for three awards at the Municipal Journal Awards (MJ Awards) including Local Authority of the Year, the only council in Scotland to be shortlisted for this category.
Being recognised for the scale of place-based investment which has continued at pace over the last year as well as how we have financed wider community projects including essential infrastructure, connectivity, the digital economy and new-build housing, while also maintaining our current homes and facilities is a great honour.
Our brilliant work to get young people involved in outdoor education at our rainbow shelter at Strathclyde Country Park has also been recognised as a finalist for Place-Based Approaches to Health Equity.
We enabled school pupils to continue receiving the physical and mental benefits of outdoor education in a fun, safe and comfortable environment using the shelter which was innovatively designed and co-created with school pupils using old mobile phones and tablets to create rainscreens and other sustainable materials. This modern and flexible outdoor structure is now a centre-piece for delivering outdoor education and providing vital life skills to young people. It opened in August 2021 and in the first four months, 33 schools and 969 pupils benefited from the new facility.
Our health and social care team has also been recognised in the Care and Health Integration category for their work to improve care for adults and older people in care homes.
We’ve also been shortlisted alongside our colleagues at @southlancouncil for the Best EV Charging award for our joint Project Pace which delivered 167 EV chargers across more 44 EV charging hubs in Lanarkshire.
Des Murray, chief executive of North Lanarkshire Council said, “It’s a great honour to be a finalist, particularly for Local Authority of the Year category as we have achieved so much over the last year despite the pandemic.
“However the people behind all the work with the rainbow shelter, what we have done and continue to do to improve outcomes for adults and older people in care homes and the enormous amount of work achieved across all our services are the ones who deserve this recognition. Without them, we couldn’t continue to deliver high-quality services that benefit the people and communities in North Lanarkshire.”
Congratulations to all the teams getting this far and roll on June to find out the winners!