A COUNCIL legal team has secured national recognition for its service to the authority for the sixth year running.

Sedgefield Borough Council's legal department is the only district authority in the region to retain the Law Society Lexcel Quality Accreditation for six continuous years.

Council leader Bob Fleming said: "Once again, this award is recognition of consistent and sustained effort by the council's legal team.

"In this particular instance, the assessment report identified over 20 areas of good practice in the way in which advice is provided to the authority."