Hull Blog ~ City-Visitor » Hull City Council

Hull is the most improved council

Sandy — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 00:00:22 +0000

So the Council in Hull has recently won an award for being the most improved council in the country. It’s a real shame that this brings out the usual string of complaints from people who then talk about how Hull CC has let them down, but I think this is pretty impressive.

It’s all part of the Local Government Chronicle (LGC) awards after a judging panel, made up of chief execs from other councils, travelled to Hull in January to find out how Hull has improved key services.

So, what did Hull CC do in particular to win the most improved award?

reduced the level of crime and fear of crime to below the national average
reduced litter, fly posting and graffiti
increased recycling rates
supported businesses through the recession
improved education across the City

Something to be proud of? I think so.

You can read more about the LGC awards here

Hull History Centre

Sandy — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:52:39 +0000

How have I only just found out about the Hull History Centre? As someone who likes to keep an ear quite close to the ground in Hull, this one seems to have escaped me.

Opening on Monday 25^th January on Mason Street near Queens Gardens, it is a brand new spanking building and will be the new home to many a book, document and old bits of paper.

It will be the new home to the city archives, the local studies library, family history unit and university archives, and on top of this, you’ll be able to find a whole heap of historical papers including letters and speeches of William Wilberforce and the papers of Hull poets Philip Larkin and Andrew Marvell.

If you’re a bit like me, and every now and then actually get quite intrigued about Hull and its past, you can read a brief potted history of Hull here

But yes, the question on most peoples’ lips – how much did it cost? Well, it’s a partnership between Hull City Council and the University of Hull but was funded by a grant of £7.7m from the Heritage Lottery Fund – which was actually granted back in July 2006. Lucky old us.

Your chance to criticise Hull City Council

Sandy — Fri, 15 May 2009 09:43:40 +0000

This article about Hull City Council amused me on the BBC’s news website

“People asked to criticise council”

“Hull council is appealing for people to volunteer to criticise its councillors and policies.”

I had a little chuckle as given attitudes towards Councils in general, and specifically Hull’s, I can’t see it would be difficult to round up enough people to help.

Then again, I checked it out on the Hull City Council’s website and turns out they don’t mention criticism directly, but rather they “encourage residents to have their say in the decisions that are made”.

It’s all part of the ‘if it’s local be vocal’ campaign and the latest step is to recruit these scrutiny co-optees which look at the “council’s policies and procedures, solving any problems along the way and assisting in making sure that the best interests of Hull and its residents are fully considered.”

Sound like a good job for you? Find out more here