Huhne praises council for top government award

12.00.00pm GMT Fri 14th Mar 2008

Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne congratulated Eastleigh Borough council for winning the top "beacon status" from the Government for its work in tackling climate change.

"This is a great honour for the councillors and the officer team at Eastleigh, as it recognises that the work being done here in the borough on climate change is path-breaking and pioneering and should be followed by other councils" said Mr Huhne.

"I particularly congratulate Cllr Louise Bloom who has led the borough efforts on the environment with a series of innovative policies such as the zero carbon target for the council's own activities, school travel plans including the walking bus, school awareness through initiatives such as the wind turbine powering the visitor centre at Itchen Valley country park and zero-cost planning applications for wind and solar power."

Mr Huhne said that the council's repeated ability to win "beacon status" following previous awards for its work on economic development and community safety showed how effective and efficient is the team running the borough. "It did not surprise me that the Government particularly singled out the quality of leadership as one of the outstanding features of local government in Eastleigh" said Mr Huhne.

"Such impartial assessments of the work done by the borough are always particularly impressive. We have an outstanding team of councillors and officers under the leadership of Cllr Keith House".