BRACKNELL Forest Council set an example to councillors across the country about how it performs as an innovative and successful service.

Members visited the Council to hear about its regeneration of the area and how this benefits residents, visitors and businesses.

A number of schemes saw Bracknell Forest Council provide modern, cost effective services as part of its transformation programme such as improvements to nine of the Boroughs libraries.

Local government members, from as far as East Ayrshire, learned about BFC's improvements and regeneration.

The leisure partnership with Everyone Active, which included a £2.8 million refurbishment of Bracknell Leisure Centre to update it - was a major improvement.

Councillor Paul Bettison, leader of the council, said: "We are very proud of our achievements in Bracknell Forest and so it was a privilege and honour to share our success and learning with council representatives from across the country last week.

The library services were also improved to extend the hours and the introduction of the new Open+ technology.

This allows users to access the library outside of normal working hours, safely and securely, which complements the self-service technology introduced in 2018.

The relocation of the council to Time Square has also saved the council £400,000 worth of running costs from Easthampstead House.

Cllr Bettison added: "We were delighted to show them our new town centre as well as share with them a number of initiatives that have transformed the way we provide services - taking a more modern and resident focussed approach, which still allow for us to reduce costs.

"We hope that this visit will help our local government colleagues explore similar opportunities within their own districts, towns and cities."

The regeneration of the town saw the council and its partners celebrating The Lexicon receiving more than 16 million visits in its first year, exceeding expectations by more than 1 million visits.