Agenda item - Mayor's Communications.

27.1      The Mayor welcomed Councillor Russell-Moyle to the Council as the newly elected Member for the East Brighton Ward.  He also welcomed everyone present to the meeting and stated that it was great to be back in the Chamber in Hove Town Hall, which had new furniture and sound and voting equipment.  He also noted that the seating had been rotated by 90 degrees reverting to the original layout with councillors facing the crest.  He hoped that the new layout and systems would work out well in improving the meeting experience in the chamber.

27.2      The Mayor stated that he had some awards to present and firstly wished to offer the Council’s congratulations to the City Parks Team who had won two awards, the first from Sussex Heritage Trust’s “Public and Community” category, in recognition of the work restoring and interpreting the Level’s rich social and cultural history, while “bringing the park into the 21^st century”. 

27.3      The second award was the “PiPA Lollipip” from Inclusive Play for the excellent standards of accessibility and inclusivity of The Level’s play area - and also the other park features that support those with accessibility needs. He then invited members of the Team to come forward along with Councillor Atkinson to collect the awards.

27.4      The Mayor then offered the Council’s congratulations to the Cityclean Street Cleaning Team who had been honoured with a national award by the Association for Public Excellence which are designed to recognize frontline council services. Cityclean won the Best Service Team award for Street Cleansing and Streetscene services.  
He then invited members of the Team to come forward along with Councillor Mitchell to collect the award.

27.5      The Mayor then offered the Council’s congratulations to the City Transport Team who had received the prestigious Transport Local Authority of the Year award in recognition for their work on a host of initiatives promoting safety and sustainable travel. The team were praised for putting people and places at the heart of our local transport plan.  He then invited members of the team to come forward along with Councillor Horan to collect the award.

27.6      The Mayor then stated that he would like to offer the Council’s congratulations and thanks to Denise D’Souza who recently stood down as Executive Director of Adult Servicers after completing 30 years’ service, and noted that she had been nominated for the Argus Public Service Award.

27.7      The Mayor noted that all Members had had the chance to tour Hove Town Hall to see how its interior had been transformed, creating a modern workspace for staff and new areas to accommodate partner organisations.  It had been a massive undertaking and he was sure all Members would like to express their thanks to all who had worked so hard from planning right through to painting.  He knew staff were pretty pleased with their new work environment and hoped that Members would find that the facilities they used worked well for them as well.  He noted that there had been an opportunity to celebrate some history of the town hall and in tune with that, he was wearing the Hove Mayoral chains.

27.8      The Mayor stated that he was plugging away with Facebook, posting to the mayoral page, endeavouring to post on all his engagements to help share the story of the amazing people and communities in the city that he met.  The page had a growing following across the city and beyond and was rapidly approaching a 1,000 page likes.  The feedback suggested that the stories were well received, and stood the Council, as well as the Mayoralty in good stead.

27.9      The Mayor stated that he was very keen to support the city’s communities and was glad to say that Hangleton & Knoll had been inviting him to many of their community activities.  He had also recently visited Coldean Community Corner, a fledgling project, which was working to strengthen the community in a rather isolated part of the city.

27.10   The Mayor noted that his Chaplain, Rev Anthea Ballam and Rev Jeff Jones were organising an interfaith Civic Service at the Unitarian Church New Road.  Having visited a number of faith communities he was aware how much they appreciated the interest of councillors and he was also aware that faith was often a key bond for members of the newer BME communities in the city.  He hoped that many of the council would be able to attend the service on Sunday 18^th December.

27.11   The Mayor noted that Remembrance Sunday was fast approaching and that there would be acts of remembrance at the Old Steine and in Portslade on the morning of Remembrance Sunday, followed by a service for the whole city at All Saints Church, Hove in the afternoon.  Armistice Day would also be marked in the usual way.  He noted that 2016 marked the centenary of the Battle of Boar’s Head, “the day Sussex died” as well as the carnage of the Battle of the Somme and Battle of Jutland, which offered special significance to the commemoration year.

27.12   The Mayor stated that some Members would be aware that the city recently received a delegation at the Mayor’s Parlour from Dieppe, during the town’s French/Canadian Film Festival.  The visitors were concerned to express their desire to see redoubling of the cultural and economic ties between Dieppe and Brighton & Hove.  He hoped that the plans for the Paris to Brighton charity cycle ride being developed with the Brighton Property Consortium and Brighton Fringe would assist the ‘entente cordiale.’  The plan was to open the Brighton Fringe from the Eiffel Tower with live link up to an outdoor celebration in Brighton & Hove; with the riders arrive in Brighton to be greeted by a special charity event in the city centre.  He hoped that the cycle ride would become an annual celebration and a significant fund-raiser for the Mayor’s Charities.

27.13   The Mayor stated that he was also working on a number of other charity fund-raising events with his 27 mayoral charities and was looking forward to walking, ‘the Brighton Way’ which City Parks would be leading starting in Saltdean Oval and ending at Emmaus Portslade.  It offered a great experience of some of the best urban fringe areas including Castle Hill, Stanmer and the Chattri, and he hoped Members would come along on the 30^th April and do at least part of the route.

27.14   He noted that the Mayor’s Christmas reception would be held at the Brighthelm Centre with entertainment, a pay bar and other charities on the 16^th December.

27.15   Finally, the Mayor stated that one of the great delights of the role of Mayor was to be invited to help celebrate the birthdays of some of the city’s eldest citizens.  He had attended a number of birthday parties for people over 100 and had recently attended a 70^th wedding anniversary of a couple who married just after the War and were still going strong. On Sunday, he had the unexpected delight of meeting one of the youngest citizens, wee baby Nancy Bee, who was just two days old and is the new baby daughter of Robert & Kerry Nemeth.  He hoped everyone present would join him in offering their congratulations to Robert & Kerry, who had a truly bee-utiful daughter.