5 BC/21/2 ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE CHAIRMAN AND LEADER PDF 17 KB
In addition to any announcements made at the meeting, please see Paper BC/21/2 attached, detailing events attended by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman.
Minutes:
5.1 The report from the Chairman was noted.
5.2 The Chairman Invited Councillor Ward to present his report.
5.3 Councillor Ward introduced his report and congratulated the Chair and Vice Chair on their election.
5.4 The Leader commented on the return to face to face meetings and informed Council that he hoped that virtual meetings would be able to continue in the future, especially as the Council had adapted well to online meetings, which had seen many benefits such as a reduction of travel and an increase in public participation.
5.5 The Leader congratulated the Members that had recently been elected to Suffolk County Council and welcomed back Councillor Simon Barrett to Babergh following the Great Cornard by-election.
5.6 Councillor Ward stated that it was good to see the country and district following the roadmap and coming out of restrictions. The Suffolk and North East Essex ICS announced that they had administered their one millionth vaccination and the vaccination programme had seen a drop in infections and hospital admissions which was wonderful news.
5.7 The Leader then announced changes to the Cabinet. Councillor Lee Parker was standing down from Cabinet with Councillor Alastair McCraw taking over his role of Cabinet Member for Customers, Digital Transformation and Improvement. The Leader paid tribute to Councillor Parker and thanked him for all of his hard work.
5.8 Councillor Ward reported that the bid to support rough sleepers across the two districts had been successful. The districts had been awarded £403,154 from the government’s rough sleepers initiative funding for the next financial year. This would go towards shared services with Mid Suffolk.
5.9 The Leader thanked Members for attending workshops over the previous week. There had been so much agreement and commonalty across all groups and the discussions had been really constructive. Any Councillors wishing to submit any further ideas should do so by 26th May 2021.
5.10 The Chairman thanked the Leader for his report.