Agenda item - Mayor's Communications.

13.1      The Mayor stated that he would like to congratulate all those involved in the Trans Equality Scrutiny Panel on winning a national Centre for Public Scrutiny Award for Involvement, Insight and Impact.  He noted that there were a number of people present to receive the award, as well as Councillor Mac Cafferty who chaired the Panel, and invited them to come forward to receive the award.

13.2      The Mayor then offered his congratulations to the Planning Projects Team on winning a national RTPI planning excellence award as part of The Coastal West Sussex and Greater Brighton Joint Strategic Planning Board. The award was in the category Innovative Planning Practice in Plan Making and was awarded for the preparation of a Local Strategic Statement and he invited Councillor Mac Cafferty as Chair of Planning and Mike Holford from Strategic Planning to come forward to receive the award.

13.3      The Mayor then stated that he wished to offer the Council’s congratulations to the Children’s Services as Brighton & Hove City Council had been named the top local authority in the country for tackling homophobic and biphobic bullying in schools. He noted that Stonewall had put the council in first place in their 2014 Education Equality Index. The Council had worked in an effective partnership with schools and Allsorts Youth Project to achieve this recognition.  He then invited officers and representatives from local schools to come forward to collect the award.

13.4      The Mayor stated that he wished to offer the Council’s congratulations to the Chief Executive and all those involved in working with young people, following the Council being awarded the City Achiever’s Award for Outstanding Employer Contribution.  He invited Lance Richard, Sue Moorman and Carla Butler from the Human Resources Team to come forward and receive the award.

13.5      The Mayor then stated that he wished to call on Councillor Duncan to address the Council.

13.6      Councillor Duncan thanked the Mayor and stated that he wished to offer his apologies to Councillor Mears for his tweet at the last council meeting and to extend that apology to anyone who may have been offended by that.

13.7      The Mayor noted the statement from Councillor Duncan.

13.8      The Mayor then stated that he believed Members would be aware that the council, along with the rest of the country, had organised a series of events to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the First World War.  However, parallel to these events the Royal Sussex Regimental Association had commissioned the construction of a Monument to be unveiled at Priez (Preee-ezz) in the Val-de-Marne Department of France on 10th September 2014 to commemorate the Regiment’s first losses on the 10th September 1914 and also provide a memorial to the 7,302 officers and men who lost their lives in the Great War of 1914 - 1919.

He stated that the council had been approached to support its construction and had made a donation of a thousand pounds alongside others from the city.  He stated that given the sacrifices made, the impact on local families and the importance to our local history he believed it was a just investment and he would urge other bodies in the city to support this campaign.