Cork City Council projects in the areas of housing, environment and community have been shortlisted for Chambers Ireland Excellence in Local Government Awards.
The Environment Directorate was shortlisted in the Sustainable Environment category for its Sustainable Canteen Project, where saw it ban disposable, single use cups and crockery in the staff canteen. Instead, staff were encouraged to use environmentally friendly reusable cups.
Under the Best Practice in Citizen Engagement category, the Community and Enterprise section was nominated for their part in the Lord Mayor’s Civic and Community and Voluntary Awards. On this awards night, six recipients receive Lord Mayor’s Civic Awards in recognition of their efforts to improve the lot of the community, while six groups receive Lord Mayor’s Community and Voluntary Awards in recognition of services they provide in the community.
Under Local Authority Innovation, the Housing Directorate were shortlisted for their project, Bishopsgrove Supported Student Accommodation. This project provides accommodation for at-risk young people who wish to enter third level education, and is run by the same team that oversee the Cork Foyer project in Blackpool.
Lord Mayor, Cllr Mick Finn said: “These award nominees give us a glimpse of the depth and breadth of work carried out by Cork City Council. The nominees also show the city council taking a lead as it works to reduce the number of disposable cups going to landfill, to keep young people out of homelessness and to ensure that our city’s great community and voluntary groups are honoured. As I have said before, community and voluntary groups glue the city together”.
Chief Executive of Cork City Council, Ann Doherty congratulated all those involved in the projects and described the shortlistings as “a credit to the hard work and innovation of Cork City Council’s staff as we work to make Cork a sustainable city, a city with empowered communities and a city that is built upon social inclusion.”
The awards ceremony will take place on 22nd November in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Santry, Dublin. There are 16 categories, ranging from Promoting Economic Development to Sustaining the Arts.
At last year’s ceremony, Cork City Council picked up two awards, in the Disability Services Provision category for Hollyhill Library’s Services for Children with Autism and under the Local Authority Innovation category for Competitive Dialogue Housing Delivery Process.
