Our purpose

We have one overriding purpose – to improve people’s lives.

To translate our purpose into commitments, we have identified three principles:

  • Prepare for the future: We plan and innovate to meet future challenges.
  • Deliver for residents: We focus on providing high-quality services.
  • Focus on prevention: We aim to prevent issues before they arise.

Our values

Our values shape how we work to deliver public services, and how we communicate with the residents we serve. We care about the best outcomes for local people, through our public services.

Our values shape every aspect of our working life and our vision for the future:

Bold

We are bold in our approach to creating solutions and delivering results.

empowered

We empower people to create efficient and sustainable solutions.

supportive

We support each other, work together, build trusting relationships, and strive to do our best for each other and the people of Bath & North East Somerset.

Bold

We are transparent, take responsibility for our actions, and listen to understand and improve.

Our culture

We are fostering a culture of openness, resilience, and accountability. We trust each other to act in the best interest of residents, customers, and colleagues.

We aspire to have a diverse and inclusive workforce and strongly encourage people from a wide range of backgrounds to work with us.

Our achievements

We were a finalist in the APSE Overall Council of the Year, and were also a finalist in the Most Improved Council category at the Local Government Chronicle (LGC) Awards in 2024. The LGC nomination recognises how we have improved people’s lives in Bath and North East Somerset following the adoption of a new Corporate Strategy in 2020, which focused on our two core policies: tackling the Climate and Ecological Emergencies, and giving people a bigger say. These two core policies shape everything we do.

Not only was our city was selected as one of three national finalists in the Great Town or Small City category of the 2024 Urbanism Awards, but we were also the first UK local authority to implement local planning policies requiring all new building developments achieve Net Zero operational energy, which is far beyond the national building regulations.