SINGER and actress Toyah Wilcox has presented Bolton Council bosses with a top environmental award.

The council has been named the outright winner of the UK Green Apple for environmental best practice.

Miss Wilcox presented the award because she is involved with environmental issues.

More than 180 councils across the country were nominated for the awards.

Michael Cooke, chairman of the judges, said: "The aim of the awards is to reward environmental best practice, and then to publicise the winners' efforts so others might follow their example." Bolton Council was praised for announcing its commitment to greatly reducing pollution and waste in a number of key areas. The council acknowledged that it must tackle problems such as generating 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, using 366,000 cubic metres of water and generating 3,600 tonnes of waste each year.

The Green Apple Awards are organised by The Green Organisation with support from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health.

Toyah is pictured left presenting the award to John Eley, Bolton Council's environmental planner.