Agenda item - Chairs Communications

5.1           The Chair provided the following communications:

“Welcome to this our first meeting of the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee, which combines the former Environment & Sustainability Committee and former Transport Committee.

I have to say it was not this administrations choice to make that change, as the burden of work load on members of this super committee will be disproportionately greater than that of other executive committees. However that was the will of the Labour and Conservative groups and I’m sure we’ll all make the best of it.

I see that both opposition groups have named two spokespersons each, in response to the breadth of this new brief, and I look forward to working with them.

As chair I am very pleased that I will be supported by my deputy chair, Councillor Sykes, and we are joined by the deputy leader of the council, Cllr Davey, in his new role as lead councillor for Transport.

Fitting to the important and public facing work of this committee I’m glad we have many experienced members with us, and as I am sure you will all agree, as ever, we are very fortunate to be supported in our work by so many excellent officers.

I would also like to welcome members of the public who are joining us today, either to participate in business or to observe, and I would like to extend a special welcome to a group of residents and students who are working with Councillor Summers on a shadowing project – we met yesterday to discuss the business of today and I hope you will all take away something useful from today’s meeting.

As is my custom I will now use this opportunity at meetings to briefly share and celebrate some of the latest news and achievements in the city.

As you may be aware the council’s scheme to encourage food-growing in new developments has received a highly commended award for innovation. I’m delighted to say I will be joining officers and members tomorrow at the award ceremony at the Royal Institute for Town Planning.

Last week I was also pleased to support officers attending the National Recycling awards where our communal recycling scheme made it into the final short list for recycling innovation.

4,000 people flocked to the Brighton Centre for the annual Eco Technology Show last month. Attendance was up compared to last year’s event with the number of trade visitors alone increasing by more than 40%, indicating strong growth and firmly establishing the show as a hub for the public & private sector, suppliers, distributors, builders and installers. I was especially taken by some of the electric and hydrogen powered vehicles being exhibited, this technology is clearly moving on and holds great promise to help improve air quality.

The city's 20th community compost scheme launched this month, taking the total number of households involved to 600. That's 3.7 double decker buses' worth of waste converted into a valuable usable resource every year.

2013 is a special year for Brighton & Hove Healthwalks. The scheme has been providing free walks in the city for ten years, and in that time has helped thousands of local people improve their physical and mental health.

And finally, I’d like to give a last plug to the current public consultation on emerging master plan for the Stanmer Park estate. The consultation was launched at this years well attended Sussex Festival of Nature in the park and closes on 14 July so don’t miss out on giving your views”.