Agenda item - Chair's Communications

3.1         The Chair provided the following Communications:

“Here in Brighton will be an opportunity to mark the anniversary of the Battle of Boars Head.Known as the day that Sussex died, where 62 men from the city died in battle in the First World War, the city's greatest loss of life, ever in one day, the significance of this battle for our city means that our Administration has added it to our civic calendar and I look forward to joining our Mayor and anyone else that would like to attend at the plaque down at the Old Steine on Monday to mark the battle this Saturday. There will be celebrations at Downes Junior School and at 2.55pm precisely, you can enjoy a fly over of the legendary Spitfire fighter aircraft and listen out for the distinctive roar of its vintage engine engines at the take shelter. We thank our armed forces for their bravery and service to our country.

Cabinet will be discussing important issues today including short term lets, investing and improving the city's playing fields and sports pitches, our drug and alcohol strategy and the Council's current financial position. We'll vote on proposals to gather more data on the number of short term lets in the city and lobby the government to introduce new powers to help us manage this sector.

The number of short-term letters in Brighton, Hove is currently unclear and with significant pressures on the supply of local housing and concerns over other associated problems we're keen to better understand the landscape locally and act to address any challenges. It's important that we work together with the short term lets sector to build a better picture of the local situation to lobby government for the powers we need to help manage it and to do all we can to make sure we're striking the right balance between supporting our important visitor economy and minimising any negative effects on our residents.

Our playing pitch strategy paper today will mean that we are considering ambitious plans to improve and invest in the city's playing fields and sports pitches over the next 15 years, as the city looks forward to hosting the women's Rugby World Cup later this summer, enhancing our reputation as a major sporting city, demands for good quality sporting facilities looks set to surge even further. Access to community sports and physical activity facilities are vital for improving the health and well-being of our residents. We are already a really active city and we know that and that's something to be hugely celebrated. But we know that we could be even more active.

Residents have access to the right sporting facilities in the right places so that they can stay physically and mentally well and lead happier and longer lives.

Today we'll also be discussing our drugs and alcohol strategy. Since my childhood, I've known that Brighton and Hove has severe challenges with drugs and high rates of drug deaths, and we see daily the harms associated with drug and alcohol use and abuse, and the impact on individuals, their friends, families and our communities here in the city. Drug and alcohol abuse can increase inequalities in health outcomes. It reduces the number of years that people spend in good health, it exacerbates poor mental health and can also lead to lead to insecure housing, estrangement from family and friends and employment issues. As a council intent on advancing health equity, reducing the harms of drug and alcohol is a priority for us.

On our agenda today is our financial position and we'll be considering the last outturn from the last financial year. It's been really positive to see that we ended the last financial year with a £1,000,000 underspend but we must be clear that it's taken a lot of hard work and effort to achieve this with tough decisions and difficulties for our staff and unavoidable impacts on service delivery. However, it does mean we've entered the new financial year in a stronger position than we expected to a few months ago. This is a great start, but like all local authorities, we'd still have financial challenges and service pressure ahead and there's more we need to do to build our reserves and ensure that we remain financially resilient as a Council.

And finally, I've been pleased to see the number of opportunities we're giving residents to have their say on the future of Brighton and Hove.

Since this Cabinet last met last month, in the last week alone we've launched consultations on ambitious plans for active travel improvements on the A259 the expansion of our electric vehicle network, the use of disposable barbecues, balloons and lanterns in our public spaces, and our city transport plan for the next decade. Also, over the course of the last month, we have celebrated Windrush Day refugee week, and we've hosted a fantastic anti racist education conference.

This Council will always be one, as long as we're in Administration that invests in anti-racist education and anti-racism and proudly flies our flags of inclusivity from our city town halls.

We've also refurbished our basketball court on the seafront. We've gone out to consultation on the design of a new swimming pool in Withdean and improvements to the multi-use games area. We've announced that we are going to be reopening Kings Road paddling pool. We've recently gone out to consultation on improving Elder Place corridor.

And this Monday and please spread this message far and wide anybody that is listening, we will be expanding our plastics, recycling in the city. So plastic pots, tubs and trays from this Monday you can put in your household recycling in communal recycling, in household recycling and we're adding them to our collections.

Also, over the last month, we have run a love your cervix campaign which is aiming to improve the take up of smear testing by women and people with cervixes in the city. I have recently had my own smear test, and I really encourage anybody receiving notification from the NHS to take it up. I know that people have incredibly busy lives and it's not many people's favourite thing to go and do, but it's vitally important. It can prevent cancer, and I'd really encourage people to take up the opportunity when you get your notification from the NHS”.