Member Spotlight: Barry Neill
Who are you and what is your role?
Barry Neill, Head of Environment & Building Services, Fife Council – waste, fleet, building services, grounds and street cleansing for 375,000 residents.
What attracted you to work in local government?
The chance to deliver services people rely on every day and see the difference locally.
What challenges do you face in local government?
Balancing budget pressure, statutory duty and workforce capacity across a 24/7 operation.
How are you currently improving efficiency in your council?
AI is helping at every level – senior leaders work with multiple AI agents, officers hold data-analysis conversations with spreadsheets, and AI optical sorting runs at our waste centres to say the least.
What do you value most about APSE?
Networking, benchmarking, shared learning and recognition for frontline teams.
Share something you like most about living/working in your local council area?
Fife’s mix of coastline, countryside and towns make every day different.
Promoting excellence in public services
APSE (Association for Public Service Excellence) is a not for profit unincorporated association working with over 300 councils throughout the UK. Promoting excellence in public services, APSE is the foremost specialist in local authority frontline services, hosting a network for frontline service providers in areas such as waste and refuse collection, parks and environmental services, cemeteries and crematorium, environmental health, leisure, school meals, cleaning, housing and building maintenance.
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