Agenda item

Announcements

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:

The Mayor

 

56.1    The Mayor announced that the annual Mayor’s Ball would be held on Friday, 21st April 2017 at Imjin Barracks.

 

Cabinet Members

 

56.2    Councillor Organ (Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning) announced that the City had been selected for the Government’s ‘Unlocking the Land Fund’ initiative following a bid for £11 million for housing only. The funding was designed to unlock brownfield sites to help create more starter homes. He thanked everyone involved in preparing the bid and undertook to keep Council informed of progress.

 

56.3    Councillor Organ (Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning) advised that Gloucestershire was one of eight areas chosen to deliver the Social Income Bond. The initiative would help tackle homelessness and the £990,000 applied for was confirmed. He undertook to keep Council informed of progress.

 

56.4    Councillor Norman (Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources) noted that two local authorities had declared that devolution was ‘dead in the water’. He confirmed that those areas with progressing bids would be dealt with first but noted that the Managing Director was leading on this issue for the City Council although the Working Group may not be meeting for some time.

 

56.5    Councillor Watkins (Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Communities and Neighbourhoods) announced that the licence had been granted for the Gloucester Lottery and ticket sales had already exceeded targets. She encouraged Members to alert any good causes in their wards to sign up through the website www.gloucesterlottery.co.uk and raise awareness of how to buy tickets in their wards.

 

56.6    Councillor Noakes (Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure) announced that the Gloucester Tourist Information Centre had won the Gold award in their category and had also won the ‘Winner of Winners’ award. She congratulated the TIC team on this achievement.

 

56.7    Councillor Cook (Cabinet Member for Environment) announced that the efforts of the waste and recycling teams in introducing changes to the recycling system had resulted in a 37 per cent increase in recycling in January compared to last year. He congratulated the teams and the Council’s partner Amey.