Castle Park and High Woods Country Park have again both been awarded Green Flag Awards, recognising them as two of the best parks in the UK. Colchester’s Cemetery and Crematorium also achieved Green Flag status. Green Flags set a benchmark of standards for management and maintenance of publicly accessible urban and countryside parks, and promotes the community value of green spaces. The Castle Park also holds Green Heritage Site status.
Finalist in two categories, with the winner announced in March 2019:
Colchester’s Town Hall and Castle were shortlisted in the finals of the Essex Wedding Awards 2018. The Town Hall in the ‘Something Different’ category and ‘Heritage’ for Colchester Castle.
Colchester Museums’ Visitor Services team were winners at the first-ever national Visitor Experience Awards. They were up against the Houses of Parliament, National Museums Liverpool and Cornwall's Regimental Museum in the Visitor Experience Team of the Year category. They were presented with their award in June 2018 at a ceremony in London's Welcome Collection.
CBC achieved ‘highly commended’ status in the 2018 IRRV Performance Awards in the Revenues Team of the Year (District Authority) category.. The team was shortlisted for its work to transform its collection service. The Revenues team handled 46,000 calls in 2017/18 and completed around 330,000 pieces of work. This not only helped CBC achieve its best results so far with a nearly 98% council tax and more than 99% business rates collection rate, but also a 98% customer service satisfaction rating.
CBC was a finalist in the 'Digital Transformation' category for its work to improve its online experience for customers.
As well as assessing the Council's digital transformation strategy to increase access to digital services and provide a more intuitive and personalised online experience for customers, judges considered digital innovations which have transformed the way staff work using cloud-based technology and revolutionised the operation of the Waste and Recycling Service. This includes, for example, a redesigned web portal for waste and recycling information, and the use of new in-cab route-planning technology fitted to the waste fleet providing live online navigation updates to officers and customers.
Legal Services were re-accredited against this Law Society standard. Lexcel's legal practice management and excellence in client care.
Leisure World Colchester has been awarded the Essex Branch Silver Shield. Leisure World run the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) UK Rookie Lifeguard programme, which gives children the skills they need to be confident in the pool or the sea. The Silver Shield Award acknowledges the fantastic pass rate on its Junior Rookie Lifeguard courses held during 2018
