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The team was announced as the winner at the Local Government Chronicle (LGC) Awards earlier this week.

ȫ��̽��’s entry, the groundbreaking We Are Westlands project, has been delivered in Droitwich Spa alongside the community, where residents and professionals worked together to focus on preventing health problems, providing better access to services and support, and helping people stay well.

The project uses a blend of grants and locally-driven activities, giving people living on the estate the chance to help design and take a lead in choosing the changes that make the biggest difference to their lives.  

The success of the project provides a powerful model for working in other parts of the county, helping local people identify and find solutions to their local needs.

It beat competition from Bromley LBC, Ealing LBC, with West London Alliance, East Suffolk Council, Luton BC, North Lincolnshire Council, Oxfordshire County Council, Sheffield City Council, and South Tyneside Council.  

In presenting the award, the judges described the project as a “standout winner which serves as an example of community development with tangible public health benefits.”

They added: “With a relatively small sum of money and a flexible innovative approach, working WITH community and faith leaders with high trust and high flexibility, the project was able to set up a sustainable infrastructure and establish many locally led projects. The project was able to demonstrate sustainability as it is built it into a core methodology in a neighbourhood health guidelines for the NHS. It is an excellent example of a solid approach to community development.”

Councillor Satinder Bell, ȫ��̽�� County Council's Cabinet Member with responsibility for Health and Wellbeing, said: “This is a fantastic example of the kind of approach we, as the new Cabinet, want to champion, listening to people, working alongside them, and putting control into the hands of those who know what is really needed.

We Are Westlands has been truly community-led. It supports local people in a sustainable and cost-effective way, helping to reduce inequalities and ultimately lessen the need for health interventions.

The Public Health team has been rightly recognised for doing things differently. For too long, other councils have imposed solutions on communities instead of asking what they believe will work. This award celebrates a better way forward, one that puts families and communities in the driving seat.”

Local resident, and Chairman of the Residents Association, Tony Libetta added: “The impression people have of Westlands isn’t always the reality. Loneliness and isolation are big issues here, a lot of people feel very cut off. The most important thing this project has done is listen to us.”

The Public Health Award recognised the councils which are making the most of their role in Public Health to protect and improve the health of their local communities.