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:
Mayor
34.1 The Mayor stated that he was happy to announce that Councillor D.Brown had recently donated his 100th pint of blood to the National Blood Trust. He also announced that preparations were underway for the Children’s Christmas party on 18 December 2022 and encouraged Members to get in contact with the Civic Office if there were primary schools in their ward who had not received invitations. He further announced that preparations were underway for the Mayors Ball on 28 January 2023. He said that any donations of raffle prizes would be appreciated, and that the money raised from the event would go to Pride in Gloucestershire.
Deputy Mayor and Sheriff
34.2 The Deputy Mayor and Sheriff, Councillor J.Brown stated that she had recently participated in the medieval tradition of the Assize of Ale. She recapped the history of the tradition and reported that 28 places had been visited and £760.80 had been raised. This would be split between the Rotary Club and Pride in Gloucestershire. She thanked the individuals that took part.
Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure
34.3 Councillor Lewis announced that Gloucester Guildhall had been awarded an additional £250,000 per annum for three years, which would enable the Guildhall Team to provide an excellent service and for Gloucester to produce acts of their own. He said that recent capital investment had transformed the space and it was a strong sign that Arts Council England recognised that Gloucester was an excellent area to invest in. He noted that Strike a Light had retained their National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) status and that Gloucester had received over £2 million in funding overall. He thanked everyone involved for their hard work.
Cabinet Member for Planning and Housing Strategy
34.4 Councillor S. Chambers informed Members that Gloucester had received £673,000 from the Supported Housing Improvement Programme, which would help to provide high quality, supported housing. She stated that the bidding was done by the Housing and Revenues and Benefits Teams in tandem. She said that not every bid from local authorities was successful and thanked the officers for their hard work. She advised that resources would be targeted at the worst performing supported housing providers.
Cabinet Member for Communities and Neighbourhoods
34.5 Councillor Padilla announced that after the introduction of a warm places scheme had been agreed at the previous Council meeting, the Community Wellbeing Team approached various organisations, resulting in a list of 13 organisations, six within Matson, Robinswood and White City Ward, had being published. He noted that finding participants for the scheme was challenging, but that £13,000 was available to support it and grant of up to £1,000 could be provided to each participant. He added that the application forms would go live on the website soon.
Managing Director
34.6 The Managing Director noted the decision of the previous Council meeting to bring forward a report on the designation of a new Monitoring Officer and advised that as the current Monitoring Officer would remain in post for a further week, he would instead bring a report to the January Council meeting. He thanked the outgoing Monitoring Officer for his work during his time at the City Council.