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:
48.1 The Leader of the Council, Councillor Cook, announced that the Food Dock had opened the previous month and that several more were due to open soon. He stated that with the new University campus due to open in early 2024, it would provide both work opportunities and further income generation in the area.
48.2 The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources, Councillor Norman, informed Members that ‘Putt Pot Noodle’ was due to open in the former Primark site providing 10 full time and 30 part time jobs. It also showed the success of repurposing former retail units.
48.3 Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure, Councillor Lewis, proffered an apology for a comment made at the most recent extraordinary Council meeting.
He informed Members that Freedom Leisure had been appointed as interim provider of leisure services for the City. Much provision had been restored and many previous staff had been reemployed.
48.4 Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning Strategy, Councillor S. Chambers, advised that the home building survey for 2022/23 had concluded and that 1,354 had been built with 417 of these being affordable. This represented the biggest increase since records began and thanked Members and Officers for their endeavours in achieving this.
48.5 Cabinet Member for Communities and Neighbourhoods, Councillor Padilla, informed Members that a funding application to the Safer Streets fund had been successful and £184k had been awarded towards various projects.
48.6 The Head of Paid Service announced that a new political group, consisting of Councillor A. Chambers and Councillor O’Donnell – the Community Independents Group – had been formed and that details of revised committee constitution would be published in due course.