Winners of 2025 Excellence Awards revealed

Winners of the 18th Land Data Local Land Charges Awards for Excellence were announced at 2025 Virtual Local Land Charges Training & Development Event on 11th & 12th March. Over 140 delegates tuned as the winning and highly commended Local Authorities were revealed in seven categories:  

• Customer Satisfaction for Local Authority Searches  

• Local Authority Searches Team of the Year 

• The Best Performing Search Team Member 

• The Best Performing NLIS Local Land Charges Department Level 2  

• The Best Performing NLIS Local Land Charges Department Level 3   

• The Best Performing Migrated Local Authority 

• The Unsung Hero 

  
  

These national awards celebrate the work and achievements of Local Land Charges departments in England and Wales. This year’s shortlist showcased teams and individuals from 68 Local Authorities. Of the nine winners, four were local authority teams winning for the first time, and two were individual first-time winners. 

The Awards are supported by the Local Land Charges Institute, SearchFlow, The Mining Remediation Authority, HM Land Registry, Land Data and the National Land Information Service (NLIS). The awards are anonymously judged by a panel of industry experts from these supporting organisations, as well as the Law Society. 

Fiona Barron, Land Data’s Chief Executive, commented:  

“Our 2025 award-winners and shortlisted councils have all demonstrated high levels of achievement and professionalism. These teams and individuals really care about maintaining the quality of their data, improving the efficiency of their team and ensuring that their residents get the best possible authoritative data, enabling them to move home as quickly as possible. In a role which is too often taken for granted, they have used initiative, grit and creativity to find new solutions and more opportunities to add value.” 

The 2025 Award winners are: 

• Customer Satisfaction Award for Local Authority Searches – supported by the Mining Remediation Authority 

District Councils 

Winner: Arun District Council 

Highly commended: Reigate & Banstead Borough Council 

Metropolitan District Councils 

Winner: Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council 

Highly commended: Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council 

London Borough Councils 

Winner: Hillingdon London Borough Council 

Highly Commended: Barnet London Borough Council 

• Local Land Authority Searches Team of the Year – supported by the Local Land Charges Institute 

Winner: Colchester City Council 

Highly commended: Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council 

• Best Performing Search Team Member – supported by SearchFlow 

Winner: Shaun Sharp from Boston Borough Council 

Highly Commended: Rebecca Arnold from Greater Cambridge Planning 

• Best Performing NLIS Level 2 Local Land Charges Department – supported by the National Land Information Service (NLIS)    

Winner: Spelthorne Borough Council  

Highly commended: North Devon District Council 

• Best Performing NLIS Level 3 Local Land Charges Department – supported by the National Land Information Service (NLIS)    

Winner: Sutton London Borough Council 

Highly commended: Westminster City Council / York City Council

• Best Performing Migrated Local Authority – supported by HM Land Registry 

Winner: Mid Sussex District Council  

Highly commended: Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council  

• The Unsung Hero Award – supported by the National Land Information Service (NLIS) Hub 

Winner: Simon Brazil from the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames 

Highly commended: Joan Culf from Sheffield City Council