Home Page Haverhill News

Haverhill benefits from being part of one of the best performing councils in the country, according to a recent assessment.

The new Suffolk-wide assessment of public sector services by the Audit Commission shows St Edmundsbury Borough Council is performing well.

The new Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) of Suffolk includes separate assessments of individual district and borough councils as well as a look at services across the whole county.

This is the same assessment which has given a mixed review of Suffolk County Council's performance. By contrast, the Audit Commission finds almost nothing to criticise in St Edmundsbury.

Particular areas highlighted that are working well include listening to residents and tackling the issues they say are important; cutting costs while improving services and making them more efficient; improved access to services; good management of large projects, including generally keeping to time and within budget; and excellent management of resources, including staff, to ensure services meet customers' needs.

The council's leader, Cllr John Griffiths, pictured, said: "Once again an independent inspection has shown that our residents and businesses are being served very well by St Edmundsbury.

"As always, however, simply having a piece of paper from an inspector doesn't stop us from continually looking for ways to improve. We listen and take note of what people locally say to us, and we continue to work on making our services even more cost-effective and efficient because we know how important that is for all our Council Tax payers."

The full assessments can be viewed on the website www.direct.gov.uk/oneplace