To receive announcements from:
a) The Mayor
b) Leader of the Council
c) Members of the Cabinet
d) Chair of Committees
e) Head of Paid Service
Minutes:
Mayor
43.1 The Mayor thanked everyone involved in Assize of Ale, and in particular Councillors James and Noakes. He reported that the event had raised £648.62 which would be divided between Longfield Hospice at Home and Leonard Cheshire Home.
43.2 He informed Members that he had participated in Gloucester’s version of Strictly Come Dancing at Wotton Hall Club on 25th November 2016, which had raised a total of £2000 for Charlie’s, a cancer support charity based in Gloucestershire.
43.3 The Mayor thanked everyone who had taken part in the Mayor and Young Peoples Conference on 26th November 2016 and in particular to Councillors Watkins, Haigh, Hilton and the Managing Director for their involvement and those individuals who had assisted in organising the event. He reported that the event had been very well received by the participating schools and welcomed further collaboration with young people within the City.
43.4 The Mayor advised Members that donations for the Children’s’ Christmas Party were still being accepted. Referring to the mince pie and envelopes laid out for each Member, he advised that the local Co-op had donated the food and a large and small Christmas food hamper which Members could bid for. He requested that any Member wishing to bid, return a completed form, contained within the envelope at the end of the meeting.
43.5 He went on further to report that a number of other local supermarkets had donated items towards the party, including party food from Morrisons Supermarket, christmas crackers from B&M stores, drinks from Aldi and crisps donated by Asda stores. He advised Members who wished to donate any additional items or be provided with any further details on the arrangements to contact Emily Knight at Marketing Gloucester.
Cabinet Members
43.6 Councillor Organ (Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning) provided Members with an update on the Joint Core Strategy (JCS). He advised that following the Ministry of Defence’s decision to retain the base at Ashcurch in Tewkesbury and Tewkesbury Borough Council’s decision not to agree the main modifications within the JCS, officers were currently in discussions with officers at Tewkesbury Borough Council on how to bring the proposals forward and resolve the concerns related to flooding. He reported that the aim was to bring a revised proposal on the JCS main modifications back to Tewkesbury Borough Council on the 31st January 2017 and present proposals to Gloucester City Council and Cheltenham Borough Council thereafter.
43.7 He advised Members that officers within the planning policy team were available to answer any specific queries on the JCS at the end of the meeting, acknowledging that the developments on the JCS would have a knock on effect on the City Plan, scheduled for discussion later on the agenda.
43.8 Councillor Watkins (Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Communities and Neighbourhoods) highlighted the Gordon McLlanaghan, Security Innovation Award won by the City Council for the CCTV/Public Wifi/4G project delivered jointly with Gloucestershire Police. She explained that the award consisted of a Bristol Blue Glass decanter and £1000 prize money which would reinvested into the CCTV project. She noted that the Council were the first to use existing CCTV transmission infrastructure as the platform for new, free public WiFi within the City Centre, commenting that the CCTV control room had been re-located to the Tri-Service Centre at Waterwells as part of this project.
43.9 Councillor Watkins invited Members to the launch of the Gloucester Lottery on 13th December 2016 at Blackfriars Priory. She encouraged Members who wished to attend, to RSVP to the Partnership and Engagement Team in advance of the launch and welcomed support for project.
43.10 Councillor Watkins encouraged Members to nominate their chosen community voluntary sector group as recipients for their Councillors’ Community Fund by the 31st December 2016 to provide sufficient time for officers to administer the funds and prevent any unnecessary delays.
43.11 Councillor Norman (Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources) reported that Councillor Coole had joined the Devolution Working Group, whose next meeting was scheduled for the 15th December 2016. He advised that the group would continue to meet quarterly or as and when required to discuss progress on the devolution bid for Gloucestershire.