Eight new schools, a major new shopping centre for Cumbernauld, eight neighbourhood centres upgraded and improvements made to our town centres. These were just a few of the achievements highlighted by North Lanarkshire Council at the launch of its Performance Report 2006/07.

At an event in Motherwell Concert Hall, Council Leader and Chair of North Lanarkshire Partnership Board Councillor Jim McCabe and Chief Executive Gavin Whitefield outlined to an audience of partner organisations, community groups, elected members and employees the council's key achievements during the last financial year. The council's report is published along with North Lanarkshire Partnership's performance report for the same period, which details the outcomes of the joint working between the main public sector agencies and local voluntary sector in the area.

Provost Tom Curley introduced North Lanarkshire Schools Pipe Band who gave stirring performances to open and close the launch event. The band was only formed three years ago but has had great success already, including becoming European Champions for their category in July and recently took second place in the Novice Juvenile category at the World Pipe Band Championships held in Glasgow.

Reflecting on the year past, Councillor Jim McCabe said:

"Once again the council has made good progress towards achieving our goals and helping make North Lanarkshire a better place to live and work.

"We are particularly proud of the achievements on a number of major projects including the House of Lords decision to grant the Ravenscraig project town centre status and allow work to start on one of the largest urban regeneration projects in Europe, and our Education 2010 project that saw two new primary schools, six joint campus primary schools and two new secondary schools open as well as the refurbishment of three more secondary schools. We were also delighted to play a part in the opening of the new Antonine Shopping Centre in Cumbernauld, a significant boost to the redevelopment of the town centre as well as an excellent retail facility for the wider area.

"Throughout the year there were many other areas where we improved the facilities and services available for local residents across North Lanarkshire, such as creating new play areas, providing healthy eating training and new facilities at nine community cafes, helping create 340 new jobs and assisting around 900 people into employment or training, and boosting our recycling efforts with the opening of two new recycling centres.

"I would like to thank our staff, elected members and partners for their efforts in helping us achieve so much. I also want to thank local residents and community organisations for their contribution, through consultation and involvement in projects, to help the council provide good quality services."

The performance report includes progress against a number of statutory performance indicators across the range of council services. Chief Executive Gavin Whitefield outlined developments in this area, saying:

"I am pleased to report that 22 indicators, which improved last year, have again improved this year. And 16 indicators, which we reported last year as having dipped in performance, have also improved. Of the 23 indicators which had shown no improvement last year, 14 have improved in the last year. We will focus on the remaining nine indicators to determine how these can be improved.

"We are pleased with the progress made in 2006/07 but we continue to look closely at how we can further develop our services and how we deliver these to meet the needs of residents. We will use the information from the Residents' Survey and other consultations to inform our decisions."

During the event, Chief Executive Gavin Whitefield announced the winners of the council's Corporate Award Scheme which recognises the projects that best exemplify each of the corporate priority themes. The winning initiatives in each category were:

Stimulating business and the economy. The Antonine Centre, Cumbernauld � the work undertaken to redevelop the town centre and develop the new shopping centre.
Promoting social inclusion. Construction Skills project which assists residents into full trade apprenticeships through the Second Chance Apprenticeship programme and into employer-led construction posts through Customised Training programmes.
Encouraging lifelong learning. Trainee Community Warden Scheme, a multi agency project that provides employment, learning and qualifications for local young people.
Improving health, wellbeing and care. Health and employability project, based in Craigneuk and offering services to local residents to improve their health and employment opportunities.
Improving housing and the environment. Safe Housing � Polish Awareness Events that informs the growing Polish community of their rights to good quality, safe housing in the private rented sector.
Promoting community safety and development. Restorative Justice Services which assists offenders in recognising their responsibility for causing harm and making reparation to their victims and communities.
Developing the organisation. Mobile computing initiative, which developed technology that helps social work and health staff undertake assessments more efficiently and promptly.

For a full copy of the Performance Report 2006/07, phone 01698 302364. The report also includes a summary of the council's financial performance for 2006/07 and you can obtain a copy of the annual accounts for that year by phoning 01698 302200.

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