Government praises example set by Lib Dem Chesterfield

12.00.00am GMT Mon 13th Feb 2006

Government experts were so impressed by Chesterfield Borough Council procedures that they now plan to use them as an example of "Best Practice." Officers from Government Office East Midlands (GOEM) performed a full audit of the way the Council's Regeneration Directorate runs its European funded projects.

They ran the rule over monitoring and project management systems and pronounced themselves so satisfied that, unusually, they did not raise any "action points" of procedures that should be looked at and improved.

Lib Dem Borough Council Leader, Cllr Ray Russell, said: "GOEM have informed us that they are keen to use the Borough Council as an example of best practice, particularly in the way we incorporate environmental sustainability such as geothermal heating and photovoltaic cells into projects such as the new coach station and industrial developments like Prospect House at Staveley and Venture House at Dunston.

"They also want to use a CBC procedures manual, prepared in response to a previous audit, to help other organisations with their systems.

"It is a big pat on the back for the Council and I would like to thank the staff involved for their professional and high quality work."