Issue - items at meetings - Chairman's Communications

The Chair of the Committee, Councillor Amy Kennedy welcomed all to the meeting, particularly the Cabinet Member Councillor David Smith.  She paid tribute to Councillor Bill Randall as the previous Chair of the Committee and wished to record her personal thanks for all his hard work.

Councillor Kennedy reminded the Committee of the fantastic success of the Brighton Festival, which had happened since the Committee had last met. She had been particularly impressed by the Fabrica Exhibition by Brian Eno.  Andrew Comben was due to be invited to the next meeting of the Committee to provide an update on the Festival. Two other events were the Dark Day in Paradise at the Pavilion and Blind Art at Hove Museum. The Marathon had been great and an update would be requested for a later meeting.  Councillor Marsh reminded the Committee that the performance “Before I Sleep” was fantastic and due to finish at the weekend.

49.1 The Chairman informed the Committee that he had been to a meeting with the Economic Partnership to discuss the scrutiny panel report on Environmental Industries. There had been a very positive response to the report. Both universities had been very supportive of the recommendations in the report. It had been noted that Brian Eno, the guest Artistic Director of the Festival this year, was very interested in environmental issues so this may feature in his approach to the Festival.  The Chairman had also attended the Cabinet Member Meeting when the Executive Response to the Environmental Industries report had been agreed. This had also been a positive response to the scrutiny report.

49.2 The Chairman had also recently met again with SeaRoc to discuss the release of wind farms from the Crown Estate programme. SeaRoc plan to have a significant involvement in 5 of the 9 wind farms.

49.3 The Chairman welcomed the two external speakers to the meeting.