A week of inspiration

Hello everybody

An uplifting start to the day

Celebrating Bi Visibility day

Having raised the flag on Bi-Visibility day on Wednesday, I headed over to Hove Junior School to meet staff and pupils and their energetic, committed and enthusiastic Head, Janis Taylor. Stunned by the artwork and creative writing on last terms theme of World War 1, I was also moved to tears by a Year 5 assembly that we joined. 

One of the pieces of art

Pupils sat cross-legged on the hall floor as they watched a video of Derek Redmond  at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics where he broke down in the 400 metres with a torn hamstring (or was it an Achilles)? But having crumpled to the ground, he pulled himself up and hobbled for the rest of the course, and was joined by another man from the crowd whom we later found out was his father. He offered a shoulder to support Derek on the agonising second half of his journey.  Janis and I were both quite as moved and inspired as the children, who saw a fantastic example of perseverance and of human support in the face of adversity. They learnt that the story ended with Derek Redmond being cheered by a stadium of 65,000 people, not for his failure but for his bravery and perseverance.  

Janis Taylor, head at Hove Junior school

My visit also took me into classrooms where this term’s schools topic, crime and punishment, was highly visible.This theme is taking the children into all sorts of research and creative learning. The children chose this topic themselves and I wonder if the opening of a number of classes on the Holland Road site in the old Hove Police Station played a part in their choice!  

Safe in the City

I chair the Safe in the City Partnership, which brings together all the organisations in the city who have a role in ensuring the community’s safety.  At our meeting this week we discussed action to prevent and disrupt Child Sexual Exploitation. We also learnt about an operation to tackle a group of young people who are having a criminal impact on the city centre; the results of which was one serious stabbing in the Pavilion Gardens over the weekend.  And at this meeting we also heard of the work going on to prevent young people being drawn into extremism. We hadn’t yet learnt of the sad death of one Brighton young person in Syria which was announced later in the week. The importance of our work with all communities, and particularly Muslim communities, to prevent young people being radicalised and taking themselves off to the immensely dangerous Syria, cannot be underestimated. Our hearts go out to the families of those affected and all those that are trying to prevent this happening.

Strike suspended

I am pleased to say that after much discussion an agreement has been forged with GMB which will see strike action suspended and a service review planned for our street scene services. The opportunity to look afresh at what we need to keep our city safe, green and clean in 2014 is one that I am very enthusiastic about. I hope that we will be able to involve staff, residents, members and learning from other places to inform this important piece of work. I also hope that our serious commitment to this will also lead to an ending of the work to rule which is affecting many of us. It’s highly likely that the review will lead to some changes and improvements. 

Your roadshow

And change and challenge will be one of the themes of the staff roadshows which are starting now and will be going on throughout October and across the whole council. There will be an opportunity for staff to meet their director, to celebrate achievements, to discuss the challenges of our financial situation and to participate in creative conversation about how we must change in the way that works with our partners and indeed our citizens. I encourage everybody to attend the roadshows and to take part in these important conversations. 

Shooting a video for the roadshows

Little Green Pig Writing project

On Thursday evening, at Jubilee Library myself, Pinaki Ghoshal, executive director of Children’s Services, and Denise D’Souza, executive director of Adult Services, were just three members of a good size crowd who joined together to hear about the exciting Little Green Pig Writing project. Inspired by an idea in America, and mentored by a similar project in Hackney entitled the Ministry of Stories, this project aims to provide creative writing opportunities for children age seven to 18. Shop premises on London Road will be opened before long and local author, Damian Barr, is patron of the project. 

Ben Payne and Damian Barr

Damian Barr, Ben Payne and Julie Watson

We heard from Damian and from Ben Payne of the Ministry of Stories as well as Julie Watson one of the co-directors of The Little Green Pig Writing project. But a highlight of the evening was an interview between Pete Lawson who writes for EastEnders and Eddie Chapple (age 10). They discussed one part of the project which has seen a group of children writing and filming a Brighton based soap opera.  This can be found on the website. Eddie’s enthusiasm and calm interview technique was truly impressive and the whole project is really inspiring. I would encourage you to find out more about it to think about ways that you might support it. Watch out for this becoming another fascinating facet of Brighton & Hove life.   

Pete Lawson and Eddie Chapple

Living Wall and a sunset

I haven’t time to talk about the Living Wall I spotted as I walked with Jason Kitcat to a meeting in London of South East Strategic Leaders to hear about innovation and Public Health.  

The Living Wall

And there is barely time to reflect again on a week of fantastic sunsets.

Another fantastic sunset

I will just end by saying that, while change and challenge are certainly the order of the day, my week has really been dominated by the inspiration of young people whom I have seen in a number of settings and who give me incredible heart for the future.

And finally, hot off the press, I am delighted to announce that Helen Gulvin has been appointed to the permanent post of assistant director in Children's Services. Thanks to everyone who took part in the two day process which culminated in formal interviews this morning and congratulations to Helen.

Have a good weekend.

Penny

Joined up working

Hello everybody

Democracy in action

Let me start by acknowledging the huge success for democracy in the independence referendum in Scotland.  The clear result of 55% voting to remain in the UK was confirmed early this morning. But things will not stay the same; modernisation of constitutional arrangements within the United Kingdom is underway.

Scottish Parliament at night

Team Brighton & Hove

Back to Brighton & Hove, I want to go back almost a week and thank all those who worked on the day and in the run up to the Tour of Britain cycle race. It was a huge success as judged by spectators, organisers, and riders alike. Transport, Cityclean, security and the events team did a brilliant job. 

Jo Osborne, Ian Taylor and Hannah Simpson from our events team

Preston Park and VC Jubilee Cycling Clubs used the finishing straight for junior races in the morning

Bevendean Primary

Monday saw me visiting Bevendean Primary school with Pinaki Ghoshal, executive director Children's Services. The head, Wendy King, proudly showed us around this spacious, bright school where staff and pupils were hard at work. I liked the busy positive atmosphere and the evidence that the school's mission and values were being lived in practice.

Refuse and recycling

As you know, refuse and recycling driver chargehands in Cityclean are still in dispute with us, and this is inevitably affecting services to residents. Again I apologise and want to assure you that we are keen to keep listening and talking to find a resolution.

Planning for our future

Over the next weeks, you will be having discussions in your teams about the financial challenges we face as we plan for the future of the council, its role in the city, services for residents and the implications for staff. As I have said before, we have to change, to further cut costs and rise to the challenge facing all public services. We need to give councillors the best options and advice we can. And I am determined that we will do this by engaging with you all and behaving in accordance with our values. So please do join in discussions and please read the information we are sharing.

Soon you will also be expected to attend the staff roadshows which will build on this engagement and enable you talk with your director, celebrate achievements, and contribute to future change.

Partners working together 

This week I have been involved in local and national meetings about integration of Health and Social Care and the opportunity of both making better use of resources and preventing hospital admissions. This agenda is a huge priority here and across the country and I must pay tribute to staff and managers for the great work being done to rise to the challenge. Our council modernisation delivery board is taking a big interest in this and the other programmes of change helping us to change, save and improve - no small ambition. 

Also, this week an open session of the MASH (multi agency safeguarding hub) showed how we are redeveloping our approach to handling child protection concerns by bringing together police, social workers and health staff. I'm appreciative of all who have planned and developed this new approach and I hope it makes our safeguarding practice even better and more accessible

Beautiful Hove

And after a day in London I enjoyed the Hove sunset; how lucky we are to live here!

Hove seafront

Circus Street development

On Wednesday, the city's planning committee took a bold decision to approve the development of Circus Street. This is another example of our forward-looking approach to city development in partnership, and will enhance housing, culture and Brighton University. It is also another example of some fantastic work by planning officers. Well done.

LGC summit

Finally, I am spending the end of the week in a summit with other chief execs, the under-secretary for Communities and Local Government, and policy makers hosted by the Local Government Chronicle. So far there has been food for thought on innovation, austerity, devolution, child sexual exploitation and working and learning together. As ever the informal conversations have been especially valuable. I've taken away some practical ideas for action - on issues as diverse as business and fostering. And I've renewed friendships and made new connections.

LGC summit

I hope you enjoy another warm autumnal weekend. 

Good wishes.

Penny

New term challenges and opportunities

Hello everybody

New term, new campus

The start of the new term was an especially exciting one for some of the pupils at Hove Junior School who started this week in their new satellite campus site in Holland Road. Formerly this was Hove Police Station and thanks to collaboration between the police, the council and the tremendous work of our property and design team, the building has been transformed into a superb school site. Here is a link to a feature on Meridian news from Monday where you can hear the enthusiasm of pupils and the headteacher.

Hove Junior School with its new solar panelled extension

The new school hall

A new classroom

Disruption to refuse and recycling 

As readers of my blog know, collaboration and change are two themes of life at the moment and for the foreseeable future. So I am disappointed to say that my week was somewhat clouded at the prospect of a return of the disruption to the city’s refuse and recycling service.

I had hoped that constructive conversations between the council, trade unions and the staff would allow us to avoid this action. Its focus is that the refuse and recycling driver charge hands are unhappy about the grade of their jobs. As with the case for all jobs, the grade was determined using the council’s job evaluation scheme to ensure fairness and consistency across our workforce and so we cannot change that for one group of staff.

What citizens need is a safe, regular and reliable service and what they don’t need is the threat of action that will see the return of rubbish piling up on the streets. I very much hope that respectful discussions will lead to the action ceasing and enable a resumption of conversations focusing on modern practices and flexible working with the interest of residents as the first priority.

I can’t say enough about the legal and financial constraints in which we are operating. We cannot resist change, and I would rather we embrace all the opportunities for improving services and recognise that nothing stays exactly the same. We can’t put the interests of residents, and our colleagues, in jeopardy. I urge everybody involved to find an alternative way forward.

Positive collaboration in Pavilion Gardens 

Turning back to the theme of positive collaboration, I was pleased to know that the recent summit I chaired on improving cleanliness in the heart of the city is leading to action. On Wednesday, the litter pick in the Pavilion Gardens orchestrated by the Argus, was a real success.

Volunteers at the litter pick in Pavilion Gardens

Thank you to everybody who took part. I hope that there is going to be a regular repeat of this activity so that we can begin to change the behaviour of the few who make this place dirty and intimidating. It should be the blooming beautiful public space in the heart of the city that the Royal Pavilion and Dome deserve.

Working together for our health and wellbeing

Collaboration is also a theme of the work of our Health and Wellbeing system with the Health and Wellbeing board at its heart. On Tuesday the board met and took some important decisions on the future of working together between health and social care including the provision of equipment for residents who need aids and adaptations to help them in their home. These decisions, after serious preparation and considerations, will lead to changes in the way equipment is managed, cleaned and distributed in Brighton & Hove. It will mean appointing a specialist provider who is also working in a neighbouring authority who can bring investment as well as expertise to this service. It will mean changes for staff, a minority of whom are council staff. We will ensure that proper protections and employment practice will characterise the change when it happens at the end of the current contract with the Community Trust in the spring of next year.

On the same agenda, the board approved arrangements for the Better Care Fund locally. In practice this means the development of closer working between Adult Social Care, Primary Care and the hospital and an improvement in services which we hope will mean fewer admissions to hospital. The working together of organisations is fantastic and the openness with which the board discussed these and other items demonstrates the way we want to work and engage in the city.

Looking at the i360 

Finally then, I wanted to share with you the progress that is being made to the i360 site. You can now look through the hoardings as work gets underway to complete the i360 tower next year. Just in case this isn’t clear the money from the Public Works Loan Board and the Local Economic Partnership could not be spent on other council services. So to those who ask whether cuts could be avoided by diverting this investment, a simple answer is no.

The new hoardings at the i360 site on Kings Road

Having a peek at the i360 site

I hope you have a good weekend.

Penny

Winning awards and planning for the future

First of all let me start by thanking all that kept working so hard while I was enjoying a holiday. 

The delights of Copenhagen for five days and then the Dorset Jurassic coast and a couple of days in London gave me a fantastic mixture of art, walking and rest and relaxation. I hope you got something similar over the summer time. 

Henry Moore at the Louisiana Museum in Copenhagen

Sculpture made of marine and beach litter in Dorset

A legend

I have come back to a week of awards. At the beginning of the week, our head of policy, Richard Tuset was awarded the modestly phrased ‘I am Legend’ medal for his unstinting efforts behind the scenes to support Pride. The Rainbow Awards, who singled Richard out, have chosen a worthy medallion man.

Richard Tuset and me

The medal

The Queen’s Award

On Thursday I was honoured to be at the Mayor’s Parlour for the presentation for the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service to Brighton & Hove Healthwalks. On behalf of her Majesty the Queen, the Lord Lieutenant for East Sussex, Mr Peter Field and Deputy Lieutenant presented the award to Corinna Edwards-Colledge and Gill Lewis, volunteer walk leader. Corinna gave a very gracious acceptance speech as the manager of this initiative which has been going on for 11 years ensuring 20 walks a week and something like 30,000 hours of volunteering over the life of the healthwalks initiative. With exercise and friendships produced from this fantastic scheme, there were plenty of enthusiastic volunteers who were delighted by the Queen’s recognition. In the pictures you will see Husnul Haque, Richard Ince and Gill Lewis, volunteer walk leaders. 

At the Queen's Award celebration

Corinna Edwards-Colledge (purple dress) with volunteers

Husnul Haque, Richard Ince and Gill Lewis, volunteer walk leaders

UK’s best city for restaurants and bars

This week the Mayor and Lady Mayoress received the award for Brighton & Hove in recognition as the UK’s best city for restaurants and bars as voted by readers of Conde Nast publication. This was well-deserved and notable since we pushed London into second place. In the same series of awards, we were recognised as the fifth most popular place to visit in the UK; Edinburgh was voted as the first. 

Lady Mayoress and Mayor

Our award

An unsung hero

Finally this week Kemp Town’s street cleaner Rob Teagle will be recognised as an ‘unsung hero’ in an award he will receive tomorrow from the independent estate agent Paul Bott and Co. 

So quite a week for awards recognising the essence of Brighton & Hove – Pride; volunteering; a fantastic biosphere in which to walk; bars and restaurant that are the best in the country – a cultural and culinary leisure offer and a place to be proud of.

Planning our future

Much of the rest of this week I have spent with colleagues working on the way ahead, our future budget, services and plans. As you know we face significant challenge to take out more than £26 million of current expenditure as part of more than £100 million savings over the next four years. We, like every local authority in the country, have to change both what we do and the way we do things. In Brighton & Hove we are determined that we will change and that we should have, as our guiding star, the vision for the city as agreed by all city partners last year namely ‘Brighton & Hove - the connected city'. Creative, dynamic, inclusive and caring. A fantastic place to live work and visit’. This is what we discussed with senior managers on Wednesday. 

ELT in discussion with senior managers

Our senior managers

This year is a bigger challenge than in recent memory, but although it is daunting and will need significant change, our approach is one of openness in line with our values. So we want to involve all staff in the conversation about how we can change. We intend that the annual roadshows, which are being planned for October, as an opportunity to engage staff in this significant change.

Over the coming weeks, we will be sharing lots of information with you and you'll be hearing more from your manager soon. 

That’s all for now.
Penny