Agenda item - Mayor's Communications.

3.1             The Mayor informed the meeting that he intend to take Items 7(c) Petition for Debate and 20(b) Notice of Motion from the Conservative Group together when Item 7(c) on the agenda was reached, as both the petition and the notice of motion related to Bowling Clubs;

3.2             The Mayor then stated that he had agreed to take a late item, concerning the Annual Audit Report which had been referred to the council by the Audit & Standards Committee and was listed as Item 11(A) in the addendum that has been circulated.  He also noted that a further Part Two report on the Bus Service Network had been referred to the meeting for information following the Policy & Resources Committee on the 12^th July and was listed as Item 22(A) on the addendum and had been circulated to Members only as it was a Part Two item;

3.3             The Mayor stated that he wished to convey the Council’s condolences to the family of Glenn Mishon who had passed away recently after a long battle with cancer.  He noted that Members would be aware Glenn had been a part of the fabric of Brighton and Hove and had been a supporter of many good causes in the city;

3.4             The Mayor then welcomed Dr. Mike Wilkinson to the meeting and asked the Council to join him in thanking Dr. Wilkinson for his commitment and service as the Independent Chair of the previous Standards Committee over the last 6 years.  He noted that with the provisions of the Localism Act coming into force recently, he had taken the decision to stand down and would not be sitting on the Audit & Standards Committee.

3.5             Councillor Littman stated that he had worked with Dr. Wilkinson for the past year and had found him to be very helpful and able to provide an insight into a number of matters that had come forward to the Standards Committee.  He wished him well and thanked him for his support at the committee and as part of the working group that had reviewed the new standards regime;

3.6             Councillor A. Norman stated that she had been very pleased to work with Dr. Wilkinson and noted that he had always been extremely well prepared for each meeting and had presided over a number of complaints against Members with integrity.

3.7             Councillor Lepper stated that she appreciated all the work that Dr. Wilkinson had undertaken over the years and felt that the council had been extremely luck to have him on the Standards Committee as an Independent Member and Chair.  She regretted the changes in legislation which had led to him having to come off the committee and stated that he would be missed and it showed just how important and valuable independent members were for Standards matters;

3.8             The Mayor thanked the councillors for their comments and presented Dr. Wilkinson with a certificate and gift as a mark of thanks for his services to the council and the Standards Committee;

3.9             The Mayor then noted that it was the last Ordinary Full Council meeting for the current Chief Executive, John Barradell and the Strategic Directors for Resources and Communities.  He stated that he wished to thank them on behalf of the council for all their work and support during their time with the authority and to wish them well in their new roles.  He was sure that the Chief Executive would find the City of London to be very different from Brighton & Hove and hoped that he found his time with the council had put him in good stead and that he would keep a watchful interest as a resident on how things develop at the authority and in the city.

3.10         The Chief Executive thanked the Mayor for his kind words and stated that it had been a privilege to have worked for Brighton & Hove and with a number of talented people across the council and partner organisations, all of whom sought to make Brighton and Hove a better place.  He wished to thank the Mayor and his predecessors that he had worked with, as well as the Leaders of the Council all of whom brought their own unique qualities to the role of Leader and shared the aim of serving the city and the council in the best way that they could.

3.11         The Mayor stated that he was very happy to inform council that the Overview & Scrutiny Team had won the Innovation Award in this year’s Centre for Public Scrutiny Awards, for their work on the Travellers Review.  It showed how well regarded the team were and the benefit of having overview & scrutiny in the council structure.  He was also pleased to in form the council that the Democratic Services Team had been one of 5 short-listed teams for the Municipal Journal’s Team of the Year.  Although they were not overall winners, to have been short-listed at national level was a great achievement and he wished to thank them on behalf of council for all their work and support, much of which took place without formal recognition;

3.12         The Mayor then stated that he wanted to congratulate all those involved in the Council being named the top local authority in the country for tackling homophobia and homophobic bullying in schools by Stonewall.  Stonewall has described as exemplary the work the council did jointly with its good practice schools and local charity the Allsorts Youth Project.  Young people from Allsorts have delivered training to council and school staff and provided anti-homophobic bullying sessions in secondary PSHE lessons.  He then invited Councillor Mac Cafferty as Deputy Leader, along with Sam Beal from Children’s Services and Maria Lamont from Allsorts to come forward to receive the award;

3.13         Finally the Mayor noted that he had been to a number of engagements since taking the role, ranging from celebrating Jubilee events, lighting the beacon, attending a Mayor’s dinner in Chichester, a Royal Visit, People’s Day, Pride events to receiving the Olympic Torch last Monday at the Cricket Ground.