Winter is here
Well winter really is with us and we are getting some fantastic skies, this was the sky last Friday evening at sunset. With winter comes winter planning and work to ensure that the city keeps moving and the most vulnerable are supported. To this end, the Health and Wellbeing Board will receive a comprehensive report next week on the way in which the city is planning to cope with winter. In advance, let me thank everybody whose efforts will contribute to the wellbeing of our city and its residents over the colder and shorter days in the coming weeks and months.
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| Winter sunset last Friday |
The heart and lungs of the city
On Monday morning I caught up with Jim Mayor and Emma Friedlander who took me through the plan for the redevelopment of the Valley Gardens. Over the next two and a half years, we will see the lungs of the city transformed with a changed traffic flow, landscaping and other developments to return this to become a key city park rather than a glorified traffic island. This is just one initiative among several which will contribute to the continuing evolution to the heart and lungs of our city.
The recent excellent news about heritage lottery funding alongside Arts Council funding , will allow the reimagining of the Dome and Royal Pavilion Estate, which will also play a significant part in these exciting developments. As you may know from recent publicity, we are also at an early stage of discussion and negotiations about extending Churchill Square down to the seafront and creating a state of the art conference centre and arena at Black Rock. All of these are future based plans, drawn up to continue to keep the city developing in a positive way for our residents as well as keeping us on the visitor map and one of the best loved places in the country.
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| Jim Mayor and Emma Friedlander |
An evening of celebration and commemoration
On Monday evening it was an honour and pleasure to
participate in the 40 years anniversary celebrations of the Brighton Women’s
Centre and to hear its President, Baroness Joyce Gould speak of its history and
the valuable work that the centre has done and continues to do in the city.
From this celebration, I walked swiftly down to New Steine
Gardens where a substantial and moving crowd commemorated the lives lost to
Aids. Monday was World Aids Day and I was one of the almost 30 speakers who
read out the names of local victims of the Aids virus and held commemorative
candles in their memory. The fight against this pernicious disease has made
fantastic strides but there is no room for complacency nor should we forget.
At the council’s quarterly Health and Safety Committee this
week, I noted again that acts of violence and aggression are the top cause of
hazards to staff closely following trips and falls. I would like to remind
everybody that we do have training and development to support staff who work in
our more challenging areas of service. I would encourage everybody to report
any incidents so that we can prevent, respond and learn.
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| The Aids memorial at New Steine Gardens |
Planning for our future
On Tuesday evening, I addressed the city’s Economic Partnership, which had invited the business community to come and hear about the council's budget and to participate in a question and answer session. It was with no delight that I outlined the very challenging position that faces us in line with the wider family of local government and indeed all public services. I gave a high level outline of the scale of our challenge and the approach we are taking which is one of modernising, prioritising and adapting to become a council in the digital age. It seems to me that our key purpose, as a smaller organisation, is going to be one of providing civic leadership to the health and wellbeing of our most vulnerable citizens, to the environment in which we live and to the economy. Our approach is going to be one of collaborating with citizens and partners in all sectors and harnessing the power of the internet, social media and other developments. During the evening, there was a very constructive discussion, and I was pleased to be supported by Geoff Raw, executive director Environment, Development and Housing and Nick Hibberd, head of City Regeneration, in answering the helpful incisive questions that were put. The event was televised by Latest TV. I had a real sense that the business community wants to play its positive part in supporting our quest to manage change in challenging times.
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| Seated at the table from left: Nick Hibberd, Penny Thompson and Geoff Raw answering questions from the business community. |
Policy and Resources discussed the draft budget report
yesterday evening (Thursday) and it will go to Full Council on the 11 December.
Then the budget proposals enter the consultation phase which runs until Thursday
26 February 2015, when Full Budget Council should take a decision. This year we
are publishing the draft corporate plan and medium term financial strategy at
the same time as the budget, in a clear wish to ensure our financial and
service planning are joined up and that we have a longer term horizon for
developing the finances of the council. The Stop, Start, Change
initiative continues and ideas have already fed into proposals and will
continue to inform the consultation phase.
Great response from staff
I want to thank everyone who was involved in managing the
effects of a fire that broke out at the Princess Royal Hospital yesterday
afternoon. Many staff worked tirelessly to arrange for patients to be
discharged, and colleagues in the independent sector made a number of beds in
nursing homes available to us. It was an outstanding example of public service
and partnership working - going the extra mile and keeping people safe.
Special thanks to our staff Grace Hanley, Marion Joslin and Marcus Brooks. Also
thanks to Paul Burns in the independent sector and one of his managers, Sharon
McNamara.
Just this morning
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| Panel at the Adult Safeguarding conference from left to right: Claire Crawley, Senior Policy Manager at the Department of Health, Denise D'souza, and Penny Thompson |
Also this morning you may have read in the media that our
interim executive director of Finance and Resources has started and a thorough
handover is underway. The next budget will be extremely challenging as we need
to save up to £26 million pounds and this role is pivotal. Rachel Musson’s
appointment was a cross party decision and the agency fee is the market rate
for the expertise we need. We would not have been able to fill this role
at this level on a permanent basis immediately. Rachel is passionate about the
wellbeing of this city and will be working hard with ELT to ensure we achieve
the best possible outcomes for Brighton & Hove.
I should end by acknowledging that these are challenging
times for staff, managers and citizens alike and I very much appreciate that
the change that we are going through is not easy. That said, I am determined to
approach our challenges as opportunities and to seek to continue to improve as
a council and a city by working together. Thanks for all you do.
Best wishes,
Penny
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