Agenda item

Announcements (10 Minutes)

To receive announcements from:

 

a)         The Mayor

b)         Leader of the Council

c)         Members of the Cabinet

d)         Chairs of Committees

e)         Head of Paid Service

Minutes:

The Mayor

 

28.1    The Mayor congratulated and welcomed two new Members who had been elected at the Barnwood and Podsmead by-elections on 25th July 2019.

 

28.2    The Mayor thanked those who had attended the recent Classic and Retro festival whether in an organisational or performance capacity as well as those who had attended to enjoy the day.

 

The Leader of the Council

 

28.3    Councillor James informed Members that the Council had successfully applied for High Street Heritage Action Zone funding for Westgate Street. He advised that the funding would become available in April 2020 for a four-year period and would be used for property grants, improving the public realm and works to the former Fleece Hotel site.  He thanked officers and partners who contributed to the bid.

 

28.4    Councillor James brought to Members’ attention the fact that Dowdeswell Estates planned to work with the Council to redevelop the Fleece site. He stated that there was still a great deal to do and that he anticipated an ongoing involvement by the City Council in the development of this site. Councillor James thanked officers and Councillor Melvin in driving the project forward.

 

28.5    Councillor James announced that Gloucester City Football Club’s bid to the Football Stadium Improvement Fund had been accepted. On behalf of the Council and in accordance with a motion agreed by Council some months ago, Councillor James had provided a letter of support for their application. 

 

28.6  Councillor James informed Members that a number of offers for the warehouses which were formerly the Council’s offices had been received. The bids would be assessed by officers and a report brought to Cabinet in November.

 

28.7  Councillor James announced that the Council had signed to the TUC’s Dying to Work Charter which supports employees with a terminal illness.

 

Members of the Cabinet

 

28.8    Councillor Watkins, Cabinet Member for Communities and Neighbourhoods, announced that Gloucester City Council had been selected as one of twenty Councils by NESTA to join their ‘upstream collaborative’. She also informed Members that Gloucestershire Pride had given the Council an award to thank and acknowledge work on equalities. Councillor Watkins thanked Councillor Gravells and the Corporate Director (Partnerships) for collecting the award on behalf of the Council and for all the equality working group’s efforts.

 

28.9    Councillor Norman, Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources, advised Members that the IT team was ready to commence the roll out of laptops. She further advised that she would be happy to receive any queries from Members.

 

28.10  Councillor Morgan, Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure informed Members that the Paul Hamlyn Foundation had recently awarded £250k to the Culture Trust to support the partnership with the Roundhouse Exchange which was in addition to the £200k received in 2017. Councillor Morgan also brought to Members’ attention two exhibitions at Gloucester Museum: Migration Masterworks from the Ben Uri collection from 2nd October 2019 to 28th January 2020 and the Magical World of William Simmonds – puppets and paintings also from other local artists from 12th October 2019 to 18th April 2020.

 

28.11  Councillor Gravells, Cabinet Member for Planning and Housing Strategy announced that he had asked Officers to engage ward members for the area within which development was proposed prior to any decision being taken on new and yet to be finalised s106 agreements.  Where there was disagreement between the recommendations of the Officers and the ward members, the Planning Committee would have the final say and that this would be effective immediately. He further announced that similar arrangements were being considered for the allocation of CIL funding and would be the subject of future consideration by the cross party Planning Policy Members Working Group.

 

 

Chairs of Committees

 

28.12  Councillor Coole, Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee informed Members that, as the Committee had a full agenda on 28th October, a special meeting had been convened to consider the Supplementary Planning Documents for the Regeneration of Matson and Podsmead. The meeting would take place at 6.30pm on Monday 4th November 2019.