Capital continues as most improved authority

14 January 2010

New figures show that Edinburgh is one of the two most improved Scottish urban councils over the last three years. This builds on a similar analysis by the Council of national indicators last year which placed Edinburgh first when viewed against other comparable authorities.

The most notable improvements are home care, housing and responding to noise complaints. In the previous assessment significant progress was made in roads maintenance, street cleanliness and the academic achievement of looked-after children.

Liberal Democrat City Council Leader Jenny Dawe welcomed the results: "This is a rigorous process that shows there is good news on our performance compared to our peers over a three year period. This is the second time we've done this assessment and it demonstrates we're maintaining improvements on a wide range of Council services. I would be proud of this achievement at any time but it's especially noteworthy given that we've also been dealing with the impacts of the global recession."

Councillor Dawe added: "We can see that there are a few areas where we need to make improvements or to increase the pace of change, but overall I am pleased about the progress being made towards our aim of becoming the best performing local authority in Scotland."

Chief Executive Tom Aitchison said: "We need to remember that these results cover only some of our many and varied responsibilities. But they are substantial enough to give us confidence that we are doing well and getting better. The next steps are already well in place with our Achieving Excellence programme, which brings together many of the initiatives we have taken to build on our performance."

Edinburgh is one of two councils with the greatest number of indicators that have improved by over 5% over three years, and the second highest number of indicators that have improved by 15% or more.