Agenda item - Mayor's Communications.

54.1         The Mayor informed the Council that she had to announce the death of former Conservative Councillor Ruth Larkin who served for 21 years on Brighton Borough Council, before becoming an inaugural member of the Older People’s Council in 2007.  She chaired the Planning Committee for a number of years and was known for arriving at site visits on her bicycle.  The Mayor then asked everyone to stand for a minute’s silence as a mark of respect.

54.2         The Mayor stated that she was mindful that there were a number of public items on the agenda and that in order to help Members to have an idea of the items to be debated later in the meeting; she intended to adjourn the meeting for the refreshment break after she had concluded the Call Over.

54.3         The Mayor then offered the Council’s congratulations to the Legal Services Team who had won 2 awards at the recent Local Government Legal Awards. The first was for the Governance Legal Team of the Year which was won by our Corporate Law Team. She noted that the judges of the award commented that the team “developed practical governance solutions tailored to the specific needs of a number of different projects and, significantly, met the aspirations of varied partners within those projects.” She then invited Liz Culbert and Isabella Sidoli to come forward to accept the award on behalf of their team.

54.4         The Mayor stated that the second award was for People Related Legal Team of the Year which was won by the Safeguarding and Litigation Legal Team. She noted that the judges of the award commented that the winner “had demonstrated a high standard across the board with particular innovation and good practice in relation to the protection of children from radicalisation and prevention of travel to war zones resulting in widespread acclaim.”  She then invited Natasha Watson, Simon Court and Charmain Sadler to come forward to accept the award.

54.5         The Mayor noted that the Council had been named the local authority partner of the year at the Fields in Trust annual award ceremony held at Lords Cricket Ground.  The award recognises the Council’s work with charity Fields in Trust to protect outdoor recreational spaces in perpetuity and encouraging people to use parks and playing fields across the city.  She invited Councillors Mitchel and Ann Norman to come forward to jointly accept the award on behalf of the council.

54.6         Finally, the stated that she had been made aware of the recent Big Difference Award that the Chief Executive had given to the Council’s Bereavement team.  She also noted that Bereavement Team had been commended by our partner organisations for their work and role during the Shoreham Airport disaster.  Whilst this had been rightly recognised by the Chief Executive, she felt that on this occasion it should be reported to all Members and the Council given the opportunity to express their thanks and recognition of the team’s work.  She therefore invited Sean Didcott and Sam Down to come forward on the team’s behalf to receive the Big Difference certificate.