Essex has a good council according to an Audit Commission report - which puts Essex County Council in the top 50 per cent of councils in the country.
All 150 of the country's major councils were rated as either excellent, good, fair, weak or poor.
Essex got a "good" rating because it has strong leadership and clear plans for the future.
The commission also felt Essex bases its priorities on what matters most to local people.
The commitment and expertise of staff was also praised.
Essex County Council leader Lord Hanningfield said: "We are encouraged by this rating and especially the comments about our staff.
"We are committed to improving services for the people of Essex and where we can learn from this performance assessment, we will do so. Next time the inspectors call I want all our services to be excellent."
The council's achievements in the last year include:
Achieving beacon status for its adoption service
Extending the opening hours of day centres
Increasing grants to Age Concern for home support services
Increasing recycling.
Published Thursday, December 12, 2002
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