Agenda item - Mayor's Communications.

37.1         The Mayor informed the Council that she had recently taken up the offer made by Mr. Chris Kift at the last meeting to join him on a tour of the city as a wheelchair user.  She had found the experience to be eye opening to the dangers and problems faced by wheelchair and mobility scooter users in attempting to get around the city.  She intended to write to the Cabinet Member for Transport & Public Realm asking for improvements to dropped curbs to be a made priority.

37.2         The Mayor stated that she was pleased to announce that the Council Connect project had scooped top prize in the ‘Innovation and Progress’ category of the Guardian’s Public Service Awards.  Council connect provided volunteers to help customers use council services online as well as one-to-one tuition on the basics of using a computer to setting blogs and searching for jobs.  She congratulated everyone involved and presented a plaque to Councillor Bowden as the Cabinet Member for Culture, Tourism & Recreation and the Head of the Library Service, Sally McMahon.

37.3         The Mayor then stated that she was pleased say that the Council had been re-credited with the Charter for Member Development following a recent assessment by a panel from South East Employers on the 22^nd November.  She wished to congratulate the Member Development Working Group and the officers from Democratic Services, especially the Head of Democratic Services, Mark Wall and the Member Development & Project Officer, Aaron Robin who had ensured Member Development was an integral part of the authority’s learning and development activities.

37.4         The Mayor then reminded Council of her forthcoming charity events taking place on:

Sunday 1^st January – Boundary walk from Stanmer to Patcham

Sunday 12^th January – boundary walk from Devil’s Dyke to Portslade; and

Friday 9^th March - Gala Dinner at the Royal Pavilion.

37.5         The Mayor then called on Councillor Randall as Leader of the Council to address the meeting.

37.6         Councillor Randall thanked the Mayor and stated that: “Following discussions this week, the club and the council have agreed the following steps to address the future transport needs of the Amex Stadium:

            1)   The Albion will fund an independent travel study of the transport needs. The study will be prepared in the context of the Albion’s plans to add 8,000 seats at the Amex Stadium and will consider the possible future use of the Falmer Retained Land for parking. Among other matters, it will look at three proposals made by Ian Davey Transport Cabinet Member. These are:

                  ·     Controlling the traffic flow from proposed parking on the retained land to give priority to pedestrians, cyclists and buses.

                  ·     Running a shuttle bus service on match days from The Keep to The Level.

                  ·     Examining the case for a match-day CPZ in Moulsecoomb and Coldean. Local residents would be consulted on any CPZ proposals for their neighbourhoods.

            2)   We propose the study will be carried out immediately on behalf of the Amex Transport Group. It will inform a planning brief for the Falmer Retained Land, which will go to the February Cabinet.

            3)   We will take the opportunity to take a fresh look at the development options for the Falmer Retained Land and the mix of activities this important site can support.

            4)   A legal agreement is being drawn up giving The Albion the go-ahead to begin immediately a demolition survey of the Falmer School buildings.

            The council remains committed to helping The Albion to increase the Amex stadium capacity by 8,000, realise its ambition to bring Premiership football to the city, increase the number of jobs and training opportunities at the stadium and continue with its hugely valuable community work across the city and elsewhere. At the same time we recognise the council has a duty to realise the best value for the site.

37.7         Councillor Randall then stated that following the recent resignation as a councillor, he wished to propose that Brian Oxley be made an Honorary Alderman of the City of Brighton & Hove in recognition of his service to both Hove Borough Council and Brighton & Hove City Council.

37.8         Councillors G. Theobald and Mitchell as Leaders of the Conservative and Labour & Co-operative Groups respectively, declared their Groups’ support for the proposal.

37.9         The Mayor noted that there was unanimous support for the proposal and such stated that she was happy to call a Special Meeting to be held on Thursday 22^nd March 2012, and to take place just prior to the Ordinary Council meeting scheduled for that day.

37.10    The Mayor then reminded Council of the need to be mindful of purdah considerations in relation to the By-election to be held on the 22^nd December, during the forthcoming debates on the items listed in the agenda.