In the first of our series of articles on The MJ Awards 2011 winners, Michael Burton talks to Michael Lockwood, chief executive of Harrow LBC, where winning The MJ's Best Achieving Council category has been a morale-booster for staff and residents

Some four years ago, Michael Lockwood was invited as a guest to The MJ's annual awards in London. As he sat watching the winners of the 2007 Best Achieving Council category he told himself: ‘One day Harrow will be up there.'