FOR the second year running, West Devon Borough Council has won the customer satisfaction award at the 2012 Land Data Local Land Charges Awards for Excellence.

The awards celebrate the work and achievements of local authority land charges departments, which carry out land and property searches required for property transactions.

The winners were announced at a dinner in Bristol, and the awards were presented by BBC journalist Justin Webb of Radio 4's Today programme. 

More than 110 representatives from local land charges teams across the country attended the event.

Cllr Christine Marsh,chairman of the borough council's planning and licensing committee, said: 'I'm so pleased for our Land Charges team. They work so hard and genuinely care about maintaining good relationships with their customers.

' I think this shines through in the efficient service that they provide for West Devon.

Claire Fryer, land charges officer at West Devon, said: 'It is fantastic to have Louise Sykes and myself in the local land charges section recognised in this way, and the comments made by our customers were amazing.

'We thought we couldn't top winning last year but after this success, maybe we can look forward to having another go next year and getting a hat trick!'