ROB Sykes has brought back some fresh ideas after an exchange trip took him Down Under.

Mr Sykes, Worcestershire County Council's chief executive, was given a "fantastic insight" by the trip to Australia.

"A lot of things were similar, other things confirmed that we were moving in the right direction," he said.

Mr Sykes was sponsored by the Society for Local Authority Chief Executives to take part in an exchange programme, where he spent a week with officers at Albury City Council, in New South Wales.

"One of the things that they are very strong on is economic development. We're trying to do more and more in Worcestershire towards that but we must not get left behind.

"One of the things we are trying to do is create the technology corridor between here and Birmingham, which is a fantastic project."

Mr Sykes was also interested in what the council was doing for the environment.

"There was a branch of a university there that was dedicated to sustainability - even the buildings were built on this principle using natural ways of cooling down," he said.

"We are trying to do something similar at Bishops Wood, on much smaller lines."

Mr Sykes also looked at the way the authority was dealing with the issue of waste, which is posing a "huge challenge" in the county.

"I learnt a lot from looking at what they were doing and brought a lot of information back with me which the county's technical people are now looking at," he said.

He is planning to send a few British ideas back to Australia when the head of corporate services from Albury, Julie Charlton, jets over to spend a week at County Hall next month.

"She is particularly interested in best value - which is the way we monitor whether our services are efficient or not - and she also wants to spend some time with our personnel and training team," he said.