New year blog

Hello everybody and a very happy new year!

The last sunrise of 2014

Like so many I have spent some time this week reflecting on the year just passed looking to find some highlights and delights, and some learning for planning the year ahead. 

Looking back at the year online

In March 2014 I took my weekly blog online. The thinking behind this was I wanted to be truly accessible to everyone who works for the council and indeed available to those interested in public services, locally and further afield. That first public blog marked the setting of the budget, the agreement to the i360 project and also saw me recounting details of lovemaking turtles whilst I spoke at the opening ceremony for the Brighton Festival Fringe!

Artist's impression of the i360

The following week saw the sign off of our City Deal and the birth of the Greater Brighton Economic Board involving Adur and Worthing, Lewes, Mid Sussex and more recently West Sussex. At the end of March we hosted one of the first gay marriages at a minute past midnight on the 29th of the month. Since then Brighton has become one of the most sought after places in which gay people want to marry and what a wonderful backdrop the city can provide to these heart warming events.

Neil and Andrew were the first same sex couple to get married, at the Royal Pavilion on 29 March 2014

At the beginning of May it was a joy to bear witness to the children’s parade marking the start of the Brighton Festival. Here my photo taking for the blog really took off!

June saw the launch of our internal management development programme focusing on equipping managers to get the best out of themselves, their teams and their services. This developmental programme is rolling out for all managers across the council and provides a really valuable opportunity to improve our management capability and our learning and collaboration across the organisation. Members of ELT and CMT are now sponsoring the individual cohorts and I am pleased to be sponsoring two of them myself. June also saw the annual Chattri service and a service for the commemoration of the D-Day landings in a year that is full of remembrance for those who lost their lives in the service of their country. 

The formal opening of The Level in June was another moment to mark the great developments that are taking place in our city to make it a fantastic place to live, work and visit.

At the opening of The Level in June

An inspirational morning was spent in July with our Senior Managers Forum being addressed by the writer and business woman Margaret Heffernan, whose books on wilful blindness and collaboration have certainly given me excellent food for thought. Margaret’s message very much reinforced the values we are seeking to live in the city council and the passion we feel for ensuring we provide excellent leadership to the city and are at the heart of sound public services.

With Margaret Heffernan at the Senior managers forum in July

At the beginning of August I blogged about Trans Pride and Pride, and then about the shock floods that we were struck by which meant that we had to evacuate Kings House. All that seems so long ago, sitting now in the crisp bright days of the final week of the year.

Our LGBT Workers' Forum float at Pride in August

September was disappointingly disrupted by industrial action from Refuse & Recycling drivers and a return to the disruption which has such a direct effect on residents with an accompanying negative impact on the council’s reputation. I truly hope that we can avoid a return to this as we co-produce a service redesign with business-like sustainability at its core.

In October I highlighted our corporate membership of the College of Social Work and we were delighted to have its Chief Executive, Annie Hudson, come and address social workers gathered up at the racecourse. In the same month we learnt that we had been successful in our bid to the Arts Council for essential works as part of our ambitious plans for a reimagined Dome and Pavilion estate. At the end of the year our delight was enormous when the Heritage Lottery Fund also provided funding to ensure that this project can happen breathing new life into the heart of our city. 

With Erin on Takeover Day in November

In November I was very pleased to be accompanied on Takeover Day by Erin from Dorothy Stringer and she joined me in a fascinating tour of our housing provision across the city.

December saw me presenting on our budget to colleagues from the business community organised by the Economic Partnership. On a  lighter and more uplifting note, I attended the annual schools Christmas concert, it was an utter joy to hear the children from schools across the city come together to sing and celebrate the beginning of Christmas festivities.

Primary Schools concert at the Brighton Centre in December

During the year I have made a significant number of service visits, presented Big Difference awards, met wonderful teachers and young people in some of our schools and celebrated the opening of the Holland Road building which is now part of Hove Juniors.

Hove Juniors building at Holland Road

Along the way I have been touched by the commitment, enthusiasm and creativity of our staff and managers, citizens and partner organisations in public, private and community and voluntary services. Despite the pressure on revenue budgets and the requirement to continue to make significant savings we have, as a city, continued to grow and develop with a number of significant schemes being announced or started through the year. Perhaps the most significant of these will turn out to be the Waterfront project which got the go ahead in a Special Policy & Resources Committee at the end of December.

Looking ahead to 2015

So looking to 2015, where will I be putting my efforts?

Well it will continue to be on providing visible open leadership to the council’s managers and staff. I will also seek to continue to work closely and well with all our politicians on the council as they provide governance to the plans we are implementing and as they agree a budget and a corporate plan for the next year. The planning is also well underway for my Returning Officer duties on the 7 May and that will be a busy weekend when I hope a number of you will apply to work on the election, either at polling stations or at the counts; assisting me in ensuring free, fair elections take place in the city providing us with our Members of Parliament for the next five years and our councillors for the next four. I mustn’t forget the Rottingdean Parish Council election as well.

Over the next year I anticipate that the work of the City Management Board involving our leading police, health, fire service, university and college executives will continue to work together on ensuring the city continues to thrive and function well despite the impact of austerity. I expect that the Health and Wellbeing Board will become an increasingly significant force in its leadership of the health and social care system from cradle to grave. I trust that schools will continue to respond to the challenge of ensuring the best possible education for our children with improvements being made particularly in the secondary offer.
 

All of this will be done against a backcloth of implementing our challenging budget and corporate plan making the council a smaller organisation focused on doing less directly whilst at the same time being evermore open and ever a better partner to citizens and other organisations we work with. So this is going to be another year of challenge and change with the prize being the health and wellbeing of our city, its environment, economy and its citizens, especially the most vulnerable.

Beach huts in front of Kings House

And finally, the last sunset of 2014

Once again I wish you a happy and successful 2015 and look forward to working with you in a spirit of learning and collaboration.

Best wishes

Penny