An Uttlesford District Council employee has landed a runner-up gong in a national awards scheme.

Val Rogacs was up for ‘Local Land Charges Officer of the Year’ in the eighth Local Land Charges Awards for Excellence and attended the ceremony in Bristol on Monday.

Val was nominated for the award by her peers from other local authorities and was highly commended for her work, finishing runner-up to Pat Morgan of Ealing Council.

Her manager, Michael Perry, Uttlesford’s assistant chief executive – legal, said: “I am delighted that Val achieved second place and was highly commended for this prestigious award. The judges were looking for individuals who have gone the extra mile to support colleagues or have been active in raising the profile of the local land charges service either at a local or national level.

“The other two land charges officers on the shortlist came from the City of London Corporation and the London Borough of Ealing, authorities with significantly greater resources than Uttlesford.

“This makes Val’s achievement all the more noteworthy.”

He added: “This is not the first time Val has been recognised for her achievements. She has also been highly commended by the Institute of Para-Legals at their awards ceremony in the past.”

The national Local Land Charges Awards for Excellence scheme, organised by industry experts Land Data, celebrates the work and achievements of local authority local land charges departments, which carry out land and property searches required for conveyancing transactions.

A panel of judges from the industry selected a winner and a highly commended individual or team in each of the awards’ six categories.

Over 145 representatives from local land charges teams across the country attended the ceremony.

Jan Boothroyd, Land Data’s chief executive, said: “Congratulations to all the awards winners.

“The Land Data awards celebrate service excellence and highlight the importance of improvement – it is an honour to celebrate the excellent service from local government local land charges teams who are delivering outstanding results in a difficult climate.”