STOCKTON Borough Council has been named the second best local authority in the country.

The council was one of six finalists in the “Local Authority of the Year” category in this year’s Municipal Journal Achievement Awards.

At a ceremony on Thursday it was highly commended behind the winner, the City of Wolverhampton Council.

Council leader Bob Cook said: “In the last six years we have lost 1,000 staff.

“Despite this, we’ve got on with reshaping the Council to deliver the changes needed. We have maintained our focus on protecting the areas and the people most in need while also remaining very ambitious for the Borough.

The Council’s Chief Executive, Neil Schneider, added: “This is much-deserved recognition for our staff, who continue to work extremely hard to deliver quality services at time of great challenge and uncertainty.

“Though it’s great to be recognised in this way, we also accept that we don’t always get things right and when that happens we always look closely at what we can do to improve.”

The other finalists were Salford City Council, Test Valley Borough Council, Vale of Glamorgan Council, and London Borough of Sutton.

The MJ’s awards summary says: “This category highlights success across the organisation. Winning this prestigious category, or reaching the shortlist, sends out a message to both staff and partners that the local authority is a high-performing council, an important factor at a time of increasing devolution.”