In addition to any announcements made at the meeting, please see Paper BC/19/40 attached, detailing events attended by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman.
Minutes:
219.1 Councillor Grandon, the Chair of the Council referred to Paper BC/19/40, which was for noting.
219.2 She then paid the following tribute to previous Councillor Nick Ridley:
It was with great sadness that we learned of the passing on the 31st March of our former colleague Nick Ridley, and due to the pandemic and lockdown, this was the first opportunity to pay tribute to Nick.
Nick was one of Babergh’s most experienced and respected Councillors, having served the Council as the Conservative Member for Brook Ward for 16 years, from 2003 until 2019.
During his terms of office Nick served in senior roles including as Chairman of Strategy, which fulfilled the same role as the Leader. He was also the Chairman of the Council from 2012 to 2014 and served as Chairman again in 2015 to 2016.
Among the many Committees he led, he was Chairman of the Planning and the Regulatory and Licensing Committees; he was a Cabinet Member until 2019. He also served as the Council’s representative on many outside bodies.
Nick was a wise counsel and highly regarded by his peers. He gave many of us sound advice. He had a wealth of local government experience and his contributions to debates in the Council Chamber were always thoughtful and informed.
Many long-standing Councillors would have their own personal memories of Nick. I had great respect for Nick, he had strong and forthright views on many matters, and I can recall that on a couple of prominent planning issues, we disagreed, but fundamentally he used those forthright views and his in-depth experience for the good of our District.
I also recall once asking him what he enjoyed most about being the Chairman and I was amused to hear that he said attending the annual Colchester Oyster Feast and went on to regale me with the details of the occasion.
Nick was passionate about Suffolk. Nick’s dedication to the community and his achievements are awe-inspiring. His daughter Sarah told the Chair that he was most proud of the Millennium Project at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, which saw the Tower built and other major additions which changed Bury St Edmunds skyline. Nick masterminded this project.
To mention just a few of Nick’s other achievements: he was a former Deputy Lieutenant of Suffolk, a Justice of the Peace for very many years and he was awarded the OBE in 2005 for his services to the community in Suffolk. He was previously Chairman of Suffolk Health Authority and a founding father of St Elizabeth Hospice, a charity he supported until his death. And yet he was a very modest man.
One of the many things that I will always remember Nick saying to me, was that “family comes first”; and our thoughts are with Nick’s wife Jessie and his family at this difficult time.
219.3 Councillor Grandon asked Councillors to observe one minute’s silence to pay respect to their friend and colleague Nick Ridley.
219.4 The Chair then invited the Councillor Ward, the Leader to make his make his Announcement.
219.5 Councillor Ward made the following announcement:
It has been a long time since we last met as a Council and it is great that we have the technology to enable us to do so in these difficult times with the uncertainty about, when we will next be able to meet in the Council Chamber. We have now held two virtual cabinet meetings and other virtual committee meetings, which have all been successful and members and officers have coped very well – it has been a steep learning curve for many of us, but everyone has adapted very quickly to this new way of working. Further improvements are being trialled – particularly to enable online voting through the latest version of the Modern.gov app.
I want to take this opportunity to thank all of our officers for the huge effort they have made over the past four months to maintain services, whilst the same time supporting our businesses, communities and residents cope with the effects of lockdown. Many have been redeployed to focus on our response to the Covid-19 crisis and have been working very long hours, including weekends. The response in Babergh and Mid Suffolk – indeed, across the whole county – has been exemplary. We have distributed government financial support to a wide range of small businesses very quickly, we have been part of the county-wide response to support the homeless and eliminate rough-sleeping, we have distributed our own community grants and we have supported those who have been shielded by ensuring they have food and medical supplies, and advice and support. We have worked with the ‘Suffolk Home But Not Alone’ service and also the huge number of community self-help groups that were mobilised very quickly across our districts. Everyone involved deserves all our thanks and gratitude. But this would not have been possible without the senior leadership team we have. They have been simply inspiring to work with and have worked harder than I could have imagined.
I know also that many members have been active in their communities to ensure that they have the support they need from Babergh, and I thank you too for doing this – it is the local leadership that shows councillors at their best.
Finally, I would like to thank the cabinet for all the extra time they have devoted to the council. They have had many extra briefings to attend and have provided valuable contributions and leadership and it is a time like this that has shown the strength of our cross-party administration.
We are now moving from the ‘response’ phase to ‘recovery’, which will have its own challenges, as we focus on giving as much support as possible to our businesses to safeguard existing jobs and provide new ones.
We now have to build on the lessons we have learned from this experience and continue to work together to help Babergh recover and emerge from this crisis, stronger and more resilient than ever.
Supporting documents: