Mayor Alderman Hilary McClintock
DERRY City and Strabane District will host the great and good from the UK’s local government sector this week for the 16th Annual Association for Public Sector Excellence (APSE) Seminar and Awards.
The prestigious event will include a two day seminar at the Millennium Forum before a glittering awards ceremony in the Foyle Arena on Thursday night where Derry City and Strabane District Council have been nominated for two of the titles on the line.
The programme of events began on Tuesday evening with a welcome reception for exhibitors and delegates at The Guildhall where visitors had the opportunity to network and share ideas in an informal setting.
The seminar will be held on Wednesday and Thursday where a trade show will showcase the latest in local government developments before keynote speakers from across the UK’s local government sector will address delegates about frontline services and policy developments.
The focus will then turn to the Main Hall at the Foyle Arena where guests at the gala awards ceremony will recognise the best of local government in the UK.
Among the local hopefuls are the Council’s Good Relations Team who have been nominated for the ‘Best Neighbourhood Initiative’ Award for their ‘Culture Quarter’ Community Relations Initiative.
Ronan O’Donnell and his team are also in line for an award after being nominated in the Best Public/Private Partnership Working Initiative category for The Walled City Townscape Heritage Initiative.
Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Alderman Hillary McClintock, is looking forward to welcoming the delegations this week.
“We will host elected members and public sector professionals from all over the UK as part of this event and I’d like to take the opportunity to welcome them to our city and district,” she said.
“It represents a real coup for our region and offers a great opportunity for us to showcase ourselves as a place to visit and do business.
“The awards ceremony will be the first major event hosted at the Main Hall in the Foyle Arena since its completion last year and I believe it will prove the perfect venue.
“I’d like to wish all the nominees the best of luck and, in particular, the two from our own Council.”
The National Chair of the Association for 2016 is Derry City and Strabane District Councillor Martin Reilly who noted that hosting a seminar of this magnitude can have a wider knock on effect for the local economy.
‘This is an excellent opportunity to show off our city to the rest of the UK.
The APSE Annual Seminar brings together local authority leaders, managers and officers from near and far to share in best practice and innovation – and what better place to display this than Derry/Londonderry?’
“We have the accommodation provision and venues in place to host a large conference like this and the visiting delegates will surely be impressed with that infrastructure.
“In the short term our hospitality sector will receive a boost from the increased visitor numbers but, crucially, the national and international exposure our city will receive this week can have significant long term benefits for the wider economy.”
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