Team at Corby’s Lodge Park Sports Centre wins at public service excellence awards

The leisure team at Corby’s Lodge Park Sports Centre are celebrating after they won at public service excellence awards.

The North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) workers picked up the award for ‘best performance’ in the sport and leisure facility management category at the annual Association for Public Service Excellence Awards (APSE).

The leisure team at NNC were up against six other councils in the category and secured the top prize earlier this month.

The APSE awards use performance data in relation to factors including usage, cost per use, management, energy efficiency, staffing and customer satisfaction alongside overall facility performance.

Cllr Helen Howell, NNC’s deputy leader and executive member for sport, leisure, culture and tourism, said: “This is such wonderful news, the council’s leisure team and staff at Lodge Park Sports Centre should be extremely proud. To have their dedication and hard work recognised formally at a national level is brilliant.

"The in-house leisure team work hard to ensure our council managed leisure facilities are providing an excellent service and I hope this is the first of many awards to come.”

Cllr Jason Smithers, leader of the council, said: “Being nominated for a national award is always an honour, but to pick up the top prize is the icing on the cake - well done to the team on this excellent achievement.

Mo Baines, APSE chief executive said: “I am thrilled to see so many local authorities using APSE's benchmarking to innovate, develop their services, and achieve excellence. This is especially impressive at a time when council finances are facing unprecedented pressures.”