Transcript

Morning, folks. Welcome to this morning's meeting. If we kick off with business, so item one is apologies for absence. Thank you, Leader. We've had apologies from Councillor Zona Hannington and also Councillor Bill Tomlinson. Okay, thank you. Item two, any declarations of interest? No. Item three, minutes of the previous meeting. We've got someone to move and second those. Councillor Alderson, Councillor Reynolds. Everyone happy that they're an accurate record? Thank you. Item four, I'll reserve my announcement this morning just to pay a short tribute to Councillor Eric Carter who passed away this week, former Councillor Eric Carter. We're obviously deeply saddened to hear of his passing this week, obviously he served the residents of Newport extremely well for almost three decades and obviously made a significant contribution to local democracy here. Served as a cabinet member between 2007 and 2011. I think it's fair to say that for those who served against Eric, it wasn't always an easy relationship. He was a fierce opponent. But ultimately, I know that deep down, he was a big champion of regeneration in the area, believed in bringing jobs and skills to the area, actually was in many ways the early pioneer of closer ties with the West Midlands and the early combined authority before it actually became a combined authority. So made a contribution in that respect. And whilst we might have differed in more different rosettes, coloured rosettes, ultimately, the one thing we could share common ground was that he wanted the best for Telford and Reakin, albeit a different route to get there sometimes. So just that's a tribute to Eric, our sincere condolences go to his family, friends and colleagues at this very sad time. Okay, moving on. Item number five is Pride in our High Street. Councillor Vickers. Thank you, Leader. I'm delighted to be able to bring my first ever report to Cabinet today on the Pride in our High Street programme, which seeks to recognise the fantastic work we've been able to achieve on our High Street since 2015. The Pride in our High Street programme has seen an unwavering commitment by Telford and Reakin Council to support our High Streets to ensure they remain vibrant places for our communities to meet, trade, entertain and enjoy. Since 2015, this council has invested £7.6 million to support High Streets in our borough towns to remain resilient in the face of neglect from the previous Conservative government, but also support businesses as they adapt to the ever-changing retail world following the rise of online shopping as well as the impact of the pandemic. The investment through this programme has seen 367 grants awarded to businesses, created 388 new jobs for local people and 65 new businesses opening in empty units on our High Streets. This direct intervention has also seen empty units in our High Streets fall from an average of 9% just five years ago to 3.8% today. We are booking the national average by a mile, which currently sits at 14% empty units on our High Streets. Those figures alone are a testament to the hard work of this administration breathing new life into our High Streets, creating vibrant places we can all be proud of. Through this work, we've been able to create diverse High Streets, which offer something for everyone. And I was delighted to meet so many business leaders across Telfton-Reeking last week to present them with their High Street Heroes Awards, voted for by the public. Some of the winners include the Little Christmas Shop in Ironbridge, which sells unique Christmas gifts and decorations, as well as hosting a thriving cafe. Another winner was the Park Street Kitchen in Wellington, which sells authentic Jamaican street food and is very popular with the local residents. As well as this, a Manizzo Bistro in Dawley, which we've been delighted to be able to support in their growth to a larger unit on Dawley High Street. We were also able to celebrate businesses that provided opportunities for young people in our town, like the Telford Academy of Performing Arts. Many of their young people will be forming in the pantomime Goldilocks and the Three Bears this Christmas at the Telford International Centre. And I'm sure we would all like to wish them the best of luck ahead of their opening show, which commences in less than two weeks' time. It was also great to take a trip to Newport to visit some of the upstanding businesses that trade there, including Immy's Cakes and Bakes and the Travel Store. As you can see, there is so much on offer on our High Streets across Telfton-Reeking, and that is a record that this administration can be proud of. This council will continue to deliver on our commitment to support local businesses and enterprise through further investment, and I'm delighted to be able to announce today the Pride in our High Street programme will receive a £1 million funding boost to bolster our borough towns and continue to ensure they are busy and vibrant places to be. As well as this, for the first time, we'll be expanding the Pride in our High Street programme to include our district centres, like Hadley and Le Gomery, Sutton Hill and Donington, to ensure these areas get the investment they need to have thriving local centres too. I'd like to thank everyone who has worked so hard to make this programme a success, including the leader, Lee Carter, who has championed our High Streets for many years, as well as our phenomenal officers, Joy McGowan, Gavin Ashford and James Dunn, and all of their teams, whose dedication and commitment to our High Streets is second to none. We have achieved so much over recent years, but there is much more to do. I'm proud to formally propose this report to Cabinet today. Thank you, Councillor Vickers. Thank you, Councillor Vickers. That's moved. We've got a seconder. Councillor Metter, any comments? Councillor Watley. Thank you. Thank you, Leader. Yeah, a really good report, and I want to thank the officers and you, Councillor Vickers, for the report. It's really good. And I need to speak about Maidley, of course, because the High Street in Maidley is thriving, and the figures, the stats that you put really highlight how we have invested in our High Streets across the borough. This next step and the new investment you're talking about is really, really important, I think, and our ability to follow it up with, you know, things like support to market traders, support to the markets in our market towns is really, really important. So I welcome the report, and thank you very much. Thank you. Councillor Healy. Yeah, thank you. Really, really positive report. I think this is such a great scheme, isn't it? I mean, we know that nationally, High Streets are really struggling, and that's one of the reasons why nationally the government's got quite a focused agenda on regenerating High Streets and retaining those small businesses. But, of course, you know, I think we've been doing that. We've sort of set out, I guess, how you can do that. And the investment that we've put in has made a real difference. It's created those additional jobs. It's ensured that our High Streets, you know, really thrive and really are beating hearts to the communities. And certainly in my ward in Ironbridge, this has been a transformative programme. Quite a number of the businesses along the High Street in Ironbridge have benefited from either start-up grants or diversification grants. A couple of the businesses that have had start-up grants have then gone on to open up more stores in other towns, including in Shrewsbury, where you'd think they'd do really, really well with, you know, a bigger town, greater footfall, but they tell me they do better in Ironbridge, which I think says something about the difference that we're making and that focus that we have on our High Street businesses. So I think it is really, really positive. And just a final sort of comment to remind everyone that it is small business Saturday at the weekend, and it's run up to Christmas, and it's the, you know, we need to get to our High Streets, support those local businesses as we're doing our Christmas shopping. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Overton. Thank you, Leader. I mean, as most people have said, this is a great report. It shows our investment in our local High Streets, because we could have just let the market dictate and let the town centre expand and forget about our local High Streets, but people value their local High Streets, and we value them too. And that's why sometimes it's easy for people to knock the investment we put into certain schemes and projects like the Conservatives every year voting against the budget, but when that budget's there, there are reasons why there are capital expenditure on projects and revenue expenditure there to make sure that we invest in the communities that matter, which is our residents. And when you think that a few weeks ago in this chamber we had a motion about supporting businesses, we are actually supporting businesses. It is shown in this programme in Prydon High Street. It's shown in the reports that are coming to Cabinet today, and I'm really proud of how the officers and this council is delivering for our residents in those communities. Thank you, Councillor Overton. Councillor McClemmons. Yeah, thank you, Leader. I just think it's a really amazing and positive report. I'd just like to thank the officers and Councillor Vickers as well, you know, a lot of hard work, and also the leader, Councillor Lee Carter, over a number of years. And just looking at the national trends on empty units compared with us, I think that's quite stark when you see our arrows, the line going down on empty units and obviously compared with the national trend. Market towns and small businesses still remain and always have remained at the heart of our borough town under our administration. And I'm also really pleased that Hadley, Donington and Sutton Hill are now included. I mustn't forget the little areas, you know, so that's great to hear. Obviously, I'm a Wellington councillor, so I'm going to talk at Wellington. I'm really proud of what we have achieved in Wellington. I know a few years back it looked sad and a bit dated and, you know, the feedback wasn't good. But I have to say there's just been a real turnaround now. And people, and it's when you talk to the shoppers, when you talk to the residents out there, and when they're actually in the town, what they think of the town. And it's been transformational. It's just really, really good. And it was only a few weeks back and during the election campaign when I was talking to lots of people in the town. Actually, there was a lot of, I was amazed how many people come in from other areas, from Shrewsbury as well, to visit our borough town. So, no, really positive and an excellent report. Thank you. Councillor Metter. Hello. Thank you, Leader. I welcome this report and thank you to my colleague, Councillor Vickers, and all the officers that have come together to bring this report to Cabinet. Only yesterday I was in a town in the West Midlands and in the high street and speaking to one of the local councillors up there and just going through all the social media and all the visits, Councillor Vickers, you've made. And they were astonished and asking for ideas. I said, yes, I've invited them to come up and see our council and how we work and that might be happening very soon. And it's just a clear message to go out to say this administration has done what it said. It's protected, it's cared and it's invested and other towns and other councillors up and down the country can see that and they want to come down to our town, our thriving town, to see how we look after our community and our people in the borough. It's a strong report and it's welcomed by businesses and people out there know that we as an administration care about them and that is vital. And again, thank you to the leader and his leadership and thank you to our officers who work really hard. Thank you, Councillor Vickers. Thank you, Councillor Meta. Councillor Middleton. Thank you, leader. I just wanted to say a really good report, well done. I think as well as supporting businesses, it also supports people out in the community. If you can live in a vibrant community where you know people, they know you, you've got places you can meet each other, places you can go. It's really good for people's wellbeing to have that environment to sort of live and work in. So it's really positive, not only for business, but also just for people who want to live in Telford and Rican and meet and be sociable and just have somewhere where there's nothing better than when somebody knows you and they know what coffee you drink or they know what your usual is. And I think that's what we're creating these high streets is that sort of friendly, sort of common purpose. So really well done. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Middleton. Councillor Reynolds. Thank you, leader. It's an excellent report highlighting this brilliant initiative. It shows our high streets are performing well against those nationally. I want to thank the officers for their work. And of course, this administration are having the faith to support our local towns against a backdrop of savage cuts by the former government. We've helped over 65 new business start-ups with the creation of over 380 new jobs. Over the years, the scheme has helped to support our high streets in various ways, providing new facades for the shops' fronts, investment to bring empty properties back into use, and reducing empty shops down to only 3.8% against a backdrop of over 14% nationally. We've been transforming our high streets through many... to become more sustainable and support our climate change agenda. I know in my own town... I can't just let you mention Maidley, Paul. But I know in my own town of Oak and Gates, the diversification grants have really helped businesses adapt. One of our winners this week of the High Street Heroes Awards actually benefited from our Revive and Thrive grants, where they were able to actually adapt and embrace an online presence for the first time, so they could reach new clients and bring new business into their shop. Because people's shopping habits have changed, and that shop did not have a website or anything. And through the help and support and investment of this council, they now have that, and that is making a massive difference to that shop. But alongside this, there's the further investment in both Wellington and Oak and Gates, breathing new life into our towns. It will drive new footfall into the high streets. I'm really proud of the work of our administration. We continue to ensure that we protect, care and invest in our market towns, building a better borough. Thank you. Thank you, Shirley. Councillor Nelson. Thank you, Leader, and indeed, follow that. Well, first of all, thank you for your words regarding Eric. It's very, very much appreciated. And I personally have had feedback from members of it on a personal basis, expressing their condolences and regret and almost their admiration for Eric, who was somewhat of an old-school character. I mean, Eric was literally and metaphorically a big man who had a presence in a room, and he was certainly formative to my early days within parish council and then borough council. The rough edges may still be there, but Eric would certainly make you aware of them and knock them off if needs be. He could be equally fierce to his colleagues as he could to his opponents, and he'll be very much missed. So thank you for your words. I find myself on my own again with no mates, and I'm nearly as I've not just got a red tie but a red coat as well. So please don't draw any conclusions from that. The Pride in Your High Street programme, and thank you for the report, thank you for the exposition of the report, is an interventionist programme. It is not leaving things to the private sector. And I'm not that kind of Tory. You cannot leave everything to the private sector in Britain. You cannot. The reason is particularly that high streets touch on public realm, so they're for every man. Whether people are going to spend money on art, they're part of where people live, where they meet people, irrespective of the commerce around them. I subscribe to broken windows theory, which I know certain cabinet members have heard me describe, where you do not leave one broken window in public realm, because if you do, it bespeaks neglect, the heads go down, the zeal goes away, and the motivation goes down. So you address these things, and the Pride in Your High Street, in its current form, would always be appropriate to review, so it's not my place to endorse it or not endorse it. It's part of a bigger package, as far as the deputy leader said. The budget's a very, very complex document. This is one small part of the budget, when we consider the support we give for the budget or not give for the budget. But we believe in that interventionism, too. Paul mentioned Maidley, and I've got to mention, therefore, Newport. It's not a competition, Paul. It's quite close. But actually, it is a competition, because our competitors are outside the borough. My duty is to the residents of this borough, not the residents elsewhere. We're in competition with Shrewsbury, Market Drayton, perhaps not so much Market Drayton, not to be rude, Stafford, for Newport, even Wolverhampton. We get people coming shopping from Wolverhampton. So the success of a program like this is very, very important. The examples we're given are examples. They are case studies. The borough is very keen on case studies. Whether we have objective measures of whether we're getting true value for money, I don't know. That's something I'd ask the borough to always explore. If we look back in history, in terms of this kind of intervention, and mention Eric, Eric was one of the key exponents of the borough towns initiative of the previous administration. So it's not entirely new. That was one of the biggest investments in our borough towns in public realm, in certain living memory. Lastly, I'd ask the council to consider this. High streets, as I opened with, are places of commerce, but they also can be a destination and a venue in themselves. They can be attractive places to visit in themselves. It's why we have 140 hanging baskets in Newport, and it looks good. Events support the work that you're doing and the other areas I aspire to do, but it's been performed in this borough. Events support that commercial offering by bringing footfall, and particularly by bringing new footfall. One of the areas that the borough I would ask you to consider supporting this kind of program is the non-cash administrative side of supporting events. So having as light a touch as possible on road closures and licenses and so forth, and try and de-cost those as far as possible. And also look at the council's attitude towards risk of volunteer intervention. Because certainly in Newport, putting up the hanging baskets used to be done by volunteers. And there weren't accidents, and I did it myself, and there weren't accidents. But permission was taken away to do that, and that's just the imposed cost on making our high street attractive. So just be mindful of, if the judgment is taken, think about the implications. They could be adding a cost and could be impeding something that's beneficial and complementary to this sort of program. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Nelson. That's a really important point, actually. I just want to make this, or give this reassurance, it's not our intention to get in the way of anything. We want to get out of the way where we can, and absolutely encourage volunteers or other things to organically grow. Thank you to everyone for their comments on this. Fantastic work, Councillor Vickers. Really, really good report. Councillor Nelson, you're quite right. It is interventionist, but it needed to be, so if we look at what other areas do where the local authority doesn't intervene, it generally consists of a business improvement district, and we've shied away from that in our borough towns. It's not something for them, because ultimately that means you're putting a levy on local businesses in terms of business rates to fund that regeneration activity, and we've always turned away from that. It's not something we're going to entertain in our borough towns. You talked about measures of success. I think the fact that we've given more than 300 grants out to businesses in a number of guises, and probably less than a dozen failures in that, after 10 years, I think is remarkable. I also think that one thing in this report that needs to be emphasised is thanks to the local town and parish councillors as well. I know you've settled on in Newport, but we've got representatives from towns and parish councillors here who have really come to the party as well and helped contribute in lots of different ways, cash and people support in relation to the programme, which has been fantastic. There is still a frustration, because I think there's still the public. If you ask the public, is your high street as you would like it to be, they'd probably still answer no, and all that does is give us a sign that we've got to continue, and I think you've done really well, Councillor Vickers, to secure that £1 million extension. That's really good work, because we've got to continue this. And there is still a frustration with private sector landlords, private landlords, who sit on empty properties in the high street. I'm really excited to see the new legislation that's been announced by government around high street auctions that will hopefully give us the powers to force private building owners to lease out their premises to make sure they're full on the high street, and we're going to explore every possible power that we can within that to try and make that work in Telfan and Rikin. But it's a fantastic report. I think the final thanks is to local business owners, many of whom you'll have rocked up this morning at 5 o'clock to fulfil orders, put in new orders, maybe visit a cash and carry on the way to the business. We'll be at work for 12 or 13 hours today, go home tonight, and then go again tomorrow, and we'll be doing that six or seven days a week, most weeks of the year. Ultimately, yes, we've done as much as we can to support them, but ultimately it relies on them, and many of them are people who've invested their life savings or remortgaged a property to make their dream come a reality, but at the same time offer a service on one of our high streets, and I think a lot of thanks needs to go to them in this, and actually what this report does is capture a lot of those fantastic stories and that brilliant entrepreneurship that's going on across our borough. So it's been moved and seconded. All those in favour, thank you. So next item is item six, Councillor Overton. Thank you. Thank you, Leader. As Chair of the Telford Land Deal, it's a pleasure to speak to you today as we celebrate a decade of success for the Telford Land Deal. It's been a truly transformative project that has brought significant economic, social, and environmental benefits to our borough. I'm really proud of the Land Deal, and this report shows the true value of this unique partnership and the positive outturns that it has delivered for businesses and our residents. Since its inception in 2015, the Land Deal, in partnership with Holmes England, has been a catalyst for growth and opportunity. In fact, it has unlocked nearly 60 million in gross sales income, supported the creation of over 2,400 jobs, and developed nearly 200,000 square metres of commercial floor space. These are the kind of milestones that demonstrates the power of collaboration and investment in our future. In the past year alone, we have achieved some remarkable results. The Telford Land Deal has delivered 11.7 million in gross sales income, delivered 381,000 square feet of employment floor space, and provided 48 new homes. Importantly, it has contributed to the creation of an estimated 240 new jobs, further supporting the growth of our local economy. Key business sites across the borough are thriving. Nye Park in Newport has become a hub for small agri-tech businesses, and Hortonwood West is fully occupied, attracting major employers such as Rosewood Pet Products, Eden Horticulture, and UPS. Meanwhile, T54 Business Park has seen significant investment, with companies like Magna, Cosma, investing over 90 million in automation and facilities. But the impact of the land deal goes beyond just business and jobs. The profits reinvested by the Council have funded vital community projects, such as the 3 million investment in the Open Gage Town Centre, which has brought refurbished retail spaces, new homes, and improved public spaces. Similarly, the investment in Telford Station Quarter supported the creation of the Quad, 43,000 square foot, for education and new businesses. Our approach has always had significant environmental benefits, contributing to the enhancement of the Borough's Green Network, and supporting initiatives such as the Great Crested Newt District licensing scheme. The success of the Telford land deal stands as a testament to the power of innovative partnerships between local government, businesses, and Homes England, and what we have achieved so far, but this is only the beginning. As we approach the final stages of this partnership, we're exploring opportunities to extend the land deal, ensuring that we continue to deliver new homes, create skilled jobs, and foster sustainable growth for the future. You can see in the report real businesses talking up the land deal, Mark Bolands of Rosewood Pets and Mark Winspert of Replenish Limited, real businesses and real voices speaking of its success. We remain committed to protecting, caring for, and investing in Telford and Reeking, ensuring that the benefits of the land deal continue to be felt for years to come. I move the report. Thank you, Councillor Overton. Is that seconded? Councillor Healy. I'll come to you for comments as well. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, happy to second this report. I think, I mean, the land deal is just, it is really an innovative way, isn't it, of working to kind of get that regeneration and that investment into our borough. And looking at some of the figures in the report, I mean, almost 4 million in income coming through business rates and council tax, that has a huge impact on our ability to deliver those key frontline services, as well as the capital investment that we're able to secure both through sales of land and also securing that private sector investment into our borough. And that's, you know, obviously delivering homes and good jobs and ultimately as leaders of place, which local authorities are, that those are really key agendas for us. For my part, I mean, it's not just about just delivering homes and business and buildings to the minimum standards. It's about going above and beyond that and trying to be as sustainable as possible. So what, you know, I was, I'm really pleased to see the work that we're doing, ensuring that we are building new business units that, you know, have solar PV built in, that have EV charging points as standard. Homes, again, that are built to future home standard or certainly have high levels of insulation, solar PV and EV charge points. The development at Donington that I went to visit recently was, you know, really, really good to see. And the people who live in those homes will have cheaper costs to heat those homes and run those homes as a result of that, of building in that way. So, you know, we're leading the field and we're showing what can be done with new building. But it's also by enhancing biodiversity, as Councillor Olberton said, the ability to identify those areas of land where actually it's better to retain them, to take them out from Homes England as potential development land, to set them aside for part of our green network and for local nature reserves. And of course, you know, we've got, we'll have 23 local nature reserves soon. I think we're to 20 at the moment, another three to designate. So, you know, we've got miles more local nature reserves than most of the local authorities. We're well above the standard on that. So, it's also about that, protecting biodiversity and making that contribution to climate change. So, you know, I think really good scheme. Welcome the plans to negotiate an extension to the scheme, because I just think it can only bring more benefits for us. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Healy. Councillor Nelson. Thank you, Leader. Thank you very much for the very detailed report, very extensive report into the land deal and what's been achieved, frankly, and is an achievement through the remediation and bringing forward of land in a way that has contributed and is contributing to growth. That's the word that Councillor Overton used earlier. And I recall when the NPPF, the National Planning Policy Framework, was first introduced, which is a number of years ago now, we went to a seminar to learn about what it meant. And the clever barrister who was giving the training, when we asked what did sustainable growth mean, he said, well, no growth is not sustainable. So, we have to have growth. A population is going to grow. There are going to be mandatory housing targets. There have been voluntary housing targets. Nonetheless, there has been housing growth. And the NPPF, among other things, enabled that housing growth. We want the jobs to be in the borough. I want the jobs to be in the borough. We did talk about people having the right to travel outside the borough to work. And, of course, they do. But I don't want them traveling down the A54 in a car. So, the job's ideally closer to home. And to the extent that the collaboration, the principles of collaboration, it's always positive. And we've talked, myself and the leader and myself, about trying to be more collaborative in our approach. And here I am. So, overall, positive, to be perfectly honest. It's interventionism. Some interventionism is good, particularly if done in a very collaborative way. I look forward to the next steps and where the program is going. And to the extent that it carries on with a positive message, then that's a good thing. And I'll close. I was very interested, indeed, to read about the Morrisons, I think it is, the building developers and their social value and the Lego competition, which actually had gone off my radar. But I read that Newport Junior School won. Excellent. So, I was really pleased about that. So, congratulations to them. Thank you. Thank you. I don't think there are any other comments, but fantastic report, Councillor Overton. I don't think we could sit here all day and still not quite capture the success of this report. An actual real impact for residents providing good quality jobs or facilities where they're good quality jobs and good quality homes as well. And we've got to keep doing that. And if there's one message I'd like people to pick up from this is that we're still very much open for business in Telford and Reekin as well. And that we are. We'll do whatever we can to attract business to Telford and Reekin. We're still open for that foreign direct investment. If we could land another big one like we did with Magna, that would be fantastic because it ultimately always benefits our town and our residents. So, that's fantastic. It's been moved and seconded. All those in favour? Thank you. So, we're going to item seven, which is a financial monitoring report in the absence of Councillor Hannington. I'll just read through some headlines on this if I could. So, the national picture is still very much the same as the previous monitoring report presented to Cabinet on the 7th of November. Obviously, that national picture is coloured more by 14 years of a Conservative government than 140 days of a Labour government. And we're still seeing the effects of that austerity that was imposed on the country for the period of the last government. We've obviously been able to distill the budget and the impact of the budget a lot more since the last report was presented. We know that there will be a 3.2% increase in spending power for local authorities, and there will be increases to other government grants, although we don't know the detail yet, and that will come out in December. Ultimately, what this report presents, though, is a position that's within budget after we apply contingencies that we put aside at the start of the financial year as part of our budget last year. We have had to apply a social care contingency of 1.9 million and plus a further 3.3 million, and that's because adult social care has been some movement in that, and we've had to invest an additional 6.7 million into that particular area. That pressure isn't going away. It's not a new thing. It's been there for a long time, and we'll do as much as we can to support the new government in actually trying to find a solution once and for all to the adult social care funding crisis that the Labour government inherited. There are variations in the report that are noted, which are mainly down to adult social care, but it's also worthwhile pointing that council-wide there's been a surplus that's been able to put into service areas, so that we haven't had to make too many more drastic interventions at this stage. The 21.7 million budget strategy reserve remains intact. Section 5.4 details a capital programme, and there's also the section in there that details a prudential and treasury indicators. In terms of income monitoring, whilst it is a little bit below target, it is still on track to hit all targets by the end of the year. There will be another monitoring report that's due to come to Cabinet on the 6th of January, alongside the medium-term financial strategy, and obviously we'll continue to work to reduce the pressures outlined in this report in year. However, we must be aware that there is a risk of additional costs, particularly additional winter gritting, any flooding, and we've already, I think last week we took the barriers down, well, we put them up and took them down again in Ironbridge, and of course any further pressures on social care as we move through the winter months. I just want to finish by paying credit to the whole team, from David at the top here, right away through, Michelle and her team, for the fantastic work here. If we just look 15 miles away to the financial picture that's unfolding in the neighbouring authority, I think it provides a perfect example as to why our strategy that we've had for nearly 15 years now is absolutely the right strategy, and it's worth supporting that strategy, or considering supporting that strategy, because if we look 15 miles away, there's a £37 million overspend on their budget, there's a fire sale of assets, there's charges for green waste, there's increasing charges for parking spaces, there's leisure centres being put at risk, and at risk of closure or being sold, and I think that's a, people just need to compare and contrast what's going on there to what's going on here. It's much more positive, and I hope, the press haven't turned up today, but I hope they do pick this up and report this in the right way, because last time they totally misrepresented the financial picture at this authority. We are robust, we are sensible, we invest in Telford and Recon and the priorities that deliver for our residents. I'd like to move the recommendations. Have we got a seconder? Councillor Metter, any comments? Councillor Olverton. Yeah, I just wanted to reiterate those comments that, you know, the team that have delivered this from the top down across the council are, you know, valuable to us as assets, but they're also making sure that we're in budget, and some of that financial choice we made of having those continuances helps that, because there is increased demand, as we know, in children's services, in adult services, across the country, and we're no different here in Telford and Recon. And as you say, you know, I think all local authorities deliver those care services, where we wanted to work with this new government, the Labour government, to try and get an answer to how we try and make sure that local authorities don't get all this impact of not being able to set budgets, because they're not sure what demand's coming in, and it's a strain on all our finances. But as you said, our robust financial management, the choices we made in delivering for, like, new place, the growth fund, the solar farm, are helping to us to deliver for our residents by making sure we have that income coming into this council, unlike the council down the road in Shropshire, which are now really struggling because of the choices they made. So I formally think this is a great report, all hard work, but there's still a lot of challenges we have for the future, and hopefully, working with the government, we can try and answer some of those challenges. Thank you, Councillor Alverton. Councillor Nelson? Thank you, Councillor Alverton. Councillor Nelson? Thank you, Leader, and thank you for your comments on the report, to support the report. And while giving thanks, I absolutely give my thanks to the officers who are being very patient indeed with my personal journey, my group's journey to try and understand the accounts, and not to be flippant, but to be lighthearted. It is an absolute race between me understanding the accounts and me being chucked out as leader of my group, and we shall see which wins. I guess that's in my hands. But thank you again for the patience, the officers, and we will continue to need that patience as we understand the complexity of the accounts. Come to understand the pressures that the council are under, not necessarily that I'm making in respect of the rules and the obligations and the strategy duties around social care, and that that area needs to be sorted, because it's not just cost per individual, but numbers of individuals. And the predictability of knowing what our demand is going to be, and that's something that's an opportunity perhaps for the council to work on and to not improve the wrong word, but it might be an opportunity to just know in more detail and more comprehensively going forward the physical nature of the demand, not just the cost per individual, but the numbers of individuals, who they're going to be, because certainly for adult social care, it is a very, very, very, very small minority of the population. It's not everyone. It's a relatively small group of people, and any knowledge we can have of who they're going to be, as it were, over the next two, three, four, five, ten years can only be useful. There are other parts in the report which are mentioned, referred to, literally on one side in the budgets, and that's, for instance, the overspend from DSG based on the new rules on SEND, and therefore the demand on SEND, and the costs of that. It must be a concern for lots of councils, less I'm told for this one than many others. And lastly, the leaders referred to an expected, anticipated, and hoped for increase in spending power of 3.2%. The report says real terms, the leader didn't say real terms, and I can understand that, because we do not know whether that 3.2% is actually going to be a real terms increase, more than inflation or not. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Nelson. Thank you, Councillor Nelson. Thank you. to back some of these things and it is a perennial thing and thank you for not mentioning it today but your group do continually go on about borrowing, Tim and I'm pleased that you're taking time to understand the accounts a little bit more because once you've done so your group might be able to come up with some solutions as to if we didn't borrow how we generate millions of pounds from those investments like New Place, like the solar farm like the property investment portfolio which ultimately is linked to the land deal that you've praised this morning so I'm more than happy as you continue that journey for you to come up with some answers as well in respect to that but generally I think we're all in a good place on this report so it's been moved, seconded all those in favour thank you so item 8 is Thrive Telford and that's Councillor Vickers Thank you, Leader this report sets out the work we've been able to do as part of our Thrive Telford programme which has seen 5.8 million pounds of investment into skills and social activities and courses across Telford and Reakin as well as a comprehensive programme of vital business support we have targeted this support to those most in need including community groups that help reduce antisocial behaviour and crime as well as to young people who are not in education, employment or training a strong example of this is the work we've been able to do with the St Giles Trust an organisation that employs individuals who've had real life challenging experiences who are now in a position to support others going through similar challenges in their lives the Thrive Telford programme has also supported Telford Kicks a free to attend football initiative across eight different locations in Telford and Reakin where there are identified antisocial behaviour issues this administration firmly believes that by providing opportunities to our young people we're keeping them off the streets and away from potential routes to criminal activity and ensuring that they can have the best possible start to their lives here in Telford and Reakin we also believe in having diversity and opportunity and that is why our Thrive Telford programme has supported the School Kabaddi Workshops which has brought in a new cultural sport firmly rooted in South Asia a total of 19 schools have taken part in this programme which has seen 1,525 students participating and benefiting from this in terms of business support and skills some of the successes we have seen from this programme include the 382 residents who have benefited from courses for those who are not in education employment or training we have issued 174 grants to SMEs to help local businesses grow and expand as well as 170 residents to date benefiting from start-up business support as detailed in the report many Telford and Reakin-based businesses have benefited from this programme including Ghost Dog Films who are able to expand their market enhancing global scales and sales and audience engagement as well as using AI technology to reduce the need for manual translation efforts the support provided by Thrive Telford has truly been transformational for many businesses we've also worked closely with European Innovations the Council's innovation partner with a shared aim to boost innovation in local SMEs and empower businesses to harness innovation for growth the Thrive Telford programme has been vital in launching our new digital skills hub at the Quad in Station Quarter which European Innovations are using as we speak to support SMEs across our borough as well as other partners like Telford College who are using the Quad to offer maths and digital focus courses to students across Telford and Reakin as well as Harper Adams University who are offering robotics automation and engineering based courses in our brand new digital skills hub Thrive Telford continues to support the strength and resilience of our communities unlocking exciting opportunities for residents across Telford and Reakin and following the recent budget announcement from the new Labour Government we anticipate continuing support for such programmes across our borough and I formally propose this report to Cabinet today Thank you Councillor Vickers is that report seconded? Councillor Middleton would you like to make some comments as well Kelly? Thank you Leader yeah it's a really good report there's a lot of safer stronger stuff in that which of course I will think is very good it's you know you've got the urban games you've got the you've got Crucial Crew you've got all of these things which really work with young people to sort of tackle that antisocial behaviour give them purpose get them involved in the communities in a positive way there's been a lot of work done urban games really well attended every holiday and the results have been really effective I think helped reduce antisocial behaviour and crime from speaking to the police so they really are positive and then that does knock on into businesses and into you know the environment we all live so really positive work Crucial Crew I think it's been about 14 years running now and that's that's always been a really positive piece of work teaching young people about the effects of drinking and crime and safety and fire safety and things like that so really positive work through Safer Stronger and all the other teams so just you know well done thank you thank you Kelly Councillor Nelson thank you very briefly I don't know this I take this is what would be called levelling up money and I'm going to say that and you're going to say £159 million savings so we'll just balance out on that one however investment of money from outside the borough into the borough can only be beneficial for the borough and the report describes not in a great deal of detail which enterprises but does give the numbers of enterprises and individuals who've benefited from this investment only one question which is it's quite a high capital sum that's been invested against the number of businesses that are referred to how much of the capital investment was invested in the quad and in facilities that the council is now occupying itself and that is not a critique or a criticism it might be the right thing to do I was just curious to know what proportion was spent on the quad Councillor Vickers thank you Tim I'll get the details of how much was actually spent for the quad to you but if you look at what the quad is actually providing you've got Telford College which is an educational provider which is bringing loads of kids across Telford and Recon to be able to stay and study in our town and so many at the moment we spoke at Scrutiny Assembly that go out of our town to places like Shrewsbury or Stafford to go and get their further education but having those opportunities for children in our town is vital and I think whatever we spend on that to provide those opportunities for our young people is worth it thank you Councillor Vickers great report you'll get that detail for Councillor Nelson and we'll bring it forward as part of another report I've no doubt and the success of the Towns deal where we've taken government money but added a lot of our own money to regenerate huge swathes of Telford and Recon so Station Quarter you've quoted an example there the Skills Hub new theatre and Limes Walk in Oatengate the market in Wellington and I'm sure we'll bring a report and detail all of that and the successes from it as well fantastic report I'm interested in the Kabaddi workshop Tim that might be a new novel way for us to settle our political differences maybe a bit of Kabaddi after you've finished your accounts workshop but no ultimately this is again one of a number of reports today that we've brought forward and the message has got to be clear if you're a business that wants to set up or continue or expand in Telford and Recon you've got a chance to get on here if you're a young person out of education employment at the moment we'll give you the opportunity to get on here if you're a resident and want to buy your own home here we'll do as much as we can to help you get on here Telford and Recon is really the place that you can get on in lots of different ways and we're going to continue that regardless of the national noise and the pessimism that seems to be around at the moment we're going to remain retain a positive outlook here so it's been moved and seconded all those in favour thank you very much so the next report is Armed Forces Covenant sorry and that is Councillor Metter thank you thank you leader supporting our Armed Forces community is a core priority of this council we are committed to supporting those who have served and their families this report is about delivering that commitment over the past year we have delivered the popular annual Armed Forces Day seen in the growth of our Armed Forces staff network and together with our partners delivered a range of outreach activities including bake and banter sessions a craft and sewing group and community art lessons funded by the council and delivered by mind the Veterans Cafes are an important part of this offer which has now had over 1,000 attendances looking forward the report makes a commitment to enhance this offer through the development of an Armed Forces hub with partners this would create an accessible multi-purpose single point of contact for the support that veterans and their families require the report makes a commitment for the council to continue to fund the Veterans Cafes which will be rebranded as Armed Forces Community Cafes I'd like to move the recommendation in the report thank you councillor meta seconded by councillor vicars any comments councillor vicars thank you leader and I'd like to start by thank you councillor meta for all of his work on this and all the officers that have worked really hard on this and I've seen first hand the impact that the veterans cafes have had across our borough they're absolutely fantastic and they've been taken up in a really good way as you said we've had over a thousand attendances now when myself and councillor Fiona Doran were elected last year we made it an instant priority to bring a veteran cafe to Donington which has been a huge success so much that we are going from one session a month to two sessions a month now starting next year which is absolutely fantastic and to see all of the people that are supported through the veterans cafes it is just brilliant so I second the report I think it's brilliant and I look forward to continuing the work that we're doing with veterans across this borough thank you councillor Middleton thank you leader I just wanted to support this report and well done for all of the work I think obviously it's vital that veterans mental health and well-being is supported that they get that mutual understanding sort of social interaction they get you know the sort of support with social isolation and you know it is very different for veterans in terms of when they get mental health support and the needs of that are different so they do need a service that really works with them and understands you know the things that they've been through and that they can work with each other in understanding that it's that camaraderie of being in service the circle of who they'll trust and work with is very different so this is vital work and really successful work and it's took time in development over the years hasn't it to find a really good space for them to be able to get that support and it's really successful so well done and thank you thank you council milton council nelson thank you leader and thank you for the reporting to the armed forces covenant and the work that's been done great britain's armed forces are honorable are honorable institutions and that can't be said of every institution in britain today unfortunately and they remain respected by the people and they espouse what are one could call older fashioned values that are not based on needs but values of things like selflessness integrity loyalty courage and resilience and they're the values that if you like my parents generation took for granted but then they taken part in the world war they didn't have worries of their own they've got external worries and so our veterans who've served us deserve our support and we can lead that but also follow the residents of the borough because it's the evidence that the residents of our borough also respect our armed forces and we've all participated I'm sure all of us most recently in the remembrance ceremonies that took place across the borough at the beginning of November and which certainly I can speak for Newport were better attended than ever and I've been attending them for nearly 18 years by all the generations not older not people in the middle of their life but youngsters as well and progressively more youngsters recognising the value of our armed forces that is not a message of militarism at all it's a message of peace we need to be able to defend ourselves and the MOD is important to the borough and the defence industry is important to the borough many many people work in industries which are to do with defence so it's good that Team Dobler are doing work to support veterans it's interventionist again but it's positive intervention it's a shame that in Newport for instance combat stress was quite a big part of the town and we know that the town was valued by the veterans who came to combat stress because of its friendly welcoming low-key nature and it's a shame that that's shut so to that extent we welcome the report and certainly look forward to future progress on the hub that's proposed how will that transpire where will it be what it's going to look like so look forward to learning that thank you thank you councillor nelson again another really really good report I'm sure we'll announce details of the new hub location etc in due course once all the details are finalised as I say a wonderful report really reflects the care and attention that we want to give to veterans in Telford and Reekin for a number of years we've held the gold status and a number of town councils open gates have got the silver accreditation for employer awards Dawley town council have done a fantastic amount of work both in terms of hosting the hub but also working on the high street to make sure that their high street is armed forces friendly I visited with Sean Davis the MP and the minister a couple of weeks ago when Al Cairns came down to Telford or came up to Telford as it was the case and had a look at what we're doing here and he was totally blown away by the way that the council local towns and parishes and the third sector are working together to provide support for veterans it is a difficult landscape I think you've alluded to that Councillor Nelson the minister was telling me that I think veterans support in the UK relies on 1700 different charities to provide that support which is shocking it's really shocking but in Telford and Rikin I think people who've served in our armed forces or are serving in our armed forces and their families and their support what network need to know will do as much as we can to offer that support whether that's by way of a hub or access to skills and support into employment once they've left the forces we really are committed to that and we won't turn away from that so fantastic report Councillor Metz it's been moved and seconded to all those in favour thank you and then we move on to item 10 the councillor's pride fund as councillor Metz thank you leader this is an annual update on the delivery of the councillor's pride fund and today we're reporting on the funding awarded during 23 and 24 the full budget of 270,000 was allocated seeing improvements at local level green spaces invested in community organisations supported and some of the most vulnerable in our community benefiting from the scheme since 2011 we've invested in just shy of £2 million under these schemes investing in our communities is a key part of this co-operative council aim to protect care and invest to create a better borough and what's great is that for every pound invested a further 60p of match funding was secured bringing the total investments this year to over 433,000 the report summarises some of the awards made under each of the council council priorities there's lots of details in the reports so I won't go through everything but to highlight some examples in Donington and Muxton 2,800 supported the set up of a new veterans cafe offering an early intervention service and a place to fill the void caused by isolation and detachment after service walls also providing a platform for social interaction and camaraderie a 500 pound grant supported the delivery of Maidly Baptist winter warmer since the group started with our cost of living grant in 2022 they've welcomed many residents to their regular sessions the report contains a short video of attendees discussing what the group means to them and it's heartwarming to see the positive impact they're having events across the borough have been supported from celebrating lowly to a music and entertainment event in Edgment and in Newport East £1,000 saw a new project allowing residents to borrow a thermal imaging camera to identify cold spots in their homes the project also offers support and information on ways to improve isolation to reduce fuel consumption and energy costs and lastly in Church Aston and Lillshaw and Dawley and Aqueduct grants have been used to install a live buoy and Millwood mare and throw line at Dawley Hamlet's local nature reserves ensuring life-saving equipment is available in reading the full report you'll see the benefits of the Council Pride Fund can be seen clearly across our communities it enables members to support the small community groups which offer such crucial services to many in our communities providing a welcome place to meet with others and gain advice and information for some those groups mean getting back on their feet navigating a crisis or avoiding social isolation the Fund supports people to live well in their communities and to gain opportunities they may otherwise not have it creates better health and well-being it reduces the burden on more costly and higher council services it supports the ecosystem our carbon neutral targets it ensures our green spaces are beautiful and well cared for it marks important moments in the borough's history it supports our children and young people and veterans amongst others there are many benefits to the Council Pride Fund and importantly enables all members to do what right in their communities so on that I move the recommendation thank you thank you Councillor Meta we've got someone to second that Councillor Overton I think you want to speak as well yeah just want to say I mean you've listened to some of those fantastic projects that Councillor Meta identified in the report and it's such a valuable thing that small bit of money can do so much for you as a ward member I know in my own ward as I would say we've just unveiled a mining industrial memorial because it was something we wanted to do and work with partners to deliver that and save the strong communities to deliver that and it's now been enhanced because I think Viola have also given a grant now so there's more money being invested into that site to put a herb garden so and the value you can see I mean when you see that warm space has been funded by this when people were struggling through the cost of living crisis last year you see organisations doing free lunches for people people just delivering in their communities like scout groups football clubs all needing this little bit of extra funding to make sure they can get the equipment and not put up their charges and subs for the people who attend it's a valuable asset it was you know and it's something that was brought forward by this administration many years ago and it's now delivering in our communities and I know that all councillors now spend their money and all of it because they know it does the value that it gives and it's a great report and thanks to the team who have to you know send all those forms out for people to return and then to pay the money Thank you Councillor Elton Councillor McClemmons Thank you I really do welcome the update on the Councillor Pride Fund which has been running since 2011 now it's a long time under this administration and we shouldn't underestimate the real positive impact that a small amount of money a small amount of funding can have which makes a real difference in our communities the positive and welcoming feedback we get back from community groups and residents says it all really there are some incredible examples of how councillors have used their pride fund to support our councillors priorities of protecting caring and investing to create a better borough there's also some really good examples of borough councillors working collectively together from different wards one of which was supporting a great initiative from Wellington town councillors in which we funded just over £2,000 to support a new initiative to train at least 100 residents in CPR in Wellington and I'd just like to finish by saying may the Councillor Pride Fund long continue thank you there wasn't hope in your voice there councillor because it definitely will continue councillor Vickers thank you thank you leader I'd like to welcome this report thank councillor Mehta for bringing it to Cabinet and all the officers that are involved I know it's a lot of hard work and the officers are absolutely fantastic when you're pinging forms backwards and forwards again how much money have I got left to spend they are absolutely fantastic and councillor Mehta referenced the money that myself councillor Fiona Doran and councillor Jenny Uri used to set up the veterans cafe at Donington and Muxton Parish Council as I mentioned earlier has been a huge success but it just proves that this scheme is delivering for residents in local communities and there's many other things that we've been able to fund in Donington as well so just today as we're speaking there'll be we funded a veterans lunch at Donington Community Hub with entertainment and food for veterans to go along with no cost at all that's happening today but also happening right now as we speak as well is the Donington Sip and Social Club which unfortunately the Conservatives on Donington Moxton Parish voted to close but myself and councillor Fiona Doran have used our pride fund to bring the community group back so every single Thursday in Donington there's a Sip and Social club where residents can go along have coffee cake play games play bingo and it's a really nice community feeling when you go there and I'm proud to have been able to use my pride fund for that we've also funded things like the hard of hearing group which is fantastic we've been able to put planters on the parade to lift the area up we funded Donington Boxing Club so that children have opportunities in Donington there's stuff for kids to do you know this is an absolutely fantastic initiative that this council brought in 2011 and as councillor Clements said I hope it continues for a very long time to come thank you councillor Vickers councillor Healey I'm probably going to say something controversial now so when I was first elected in 2019 and I was told you get this councillor pride fund I was actually a bit sceptical about it I am a natural sceptic so there's nothing new there and I just thought well you know surely given the financial constraints that local authorities are under surely this money might be better if it was just sat within services or even offered up as a saving because you just put a bit of money about and what difference will it make I was wrong to have those doubts I think and I've seen the difference that it makes in my ward and I think and I mean no disrespect council officers when I say this because I was a council officer for all of my career until I came on to this side of the divide but I think as a member as an elected member representing your community you really get into the granular detail of your communities understanding the issues having those relationships with your members of the community understanding the things that they're trying to achieve and being able to give £100 £200 here and there to help set things up and just get projects over the line but the difference that helps them lever in additional funding to make something happen is just really transformative and thinking about one of the very early grants that I gave was to Coffee and Chat Group which meets every fortnight in Corbettdale again just helping people with social isolation it has young mums with young kids there as well as older retired people it's a wonderful group and I gave one grant to that group and it has sustained itself ever since and that wouldn't have happened I think we just had that starting point so my scepticism was unfounded it's a great scheme and I'm really pleased to hear that we will be continuing with it thank you councillor healy I thought you were going to offer to offer your award fund up to the rest of us we can always find some way to spend it councillor middleton thank you leader this is a great report and I love as I'm sure we all do having our pride fund so I'm Woodside we've been able to create a Woodside community library which I'm really proud of councillor Helen Morgan and myself we pay for things like the Santa float and the lights which is tomorrow we've got a menopause group which is a great group that has been born of that and we get to take people to the seaside but importantly we've got things like defibrillators blood packs that we fund which are obviously life saving things that hopefully people won't need to use but we can fund and be there supporting year six to have create memories and go on trips and support groups and services it is really a fantastic and it really connects us to our communities where it matters having conversations and meeting people being able to go and see and support these services and groups and all the things that are going on so it's really a fantastic thing and I feel like every year we're trying to see what else we can leave as a legacy and our wards as a result and that's the thing isn't it it's really about creating things that can stay and be a legacy and people can really grow and develop so it creates purpose as well in our wards so really good and well done to everyone Thank you Councillor Reynolds Well I don't really want to wax lyrical like you know there's been so much been said already I could give you a long long list because obviously over the last 13 years I've spent my money so well in the war everything from parking to defibrillators to the tea and toast which has now actually turned into a huge thing on a Wednesday morning with everything from a food bank to clothes to everything that goes into that session but basically it's just a great opportunity to use in such diverse ways to many groups and organisations that we can all support I think one of the things that I've taken a lot of pride in doing is that I've managed to support all the schools across my ward and I'm one of the fortunate people that's got four primary schools in their area which not many people have but all of them have had road safety training and what I call the old cycling proficiency but as well as doing that I was very conscious I've got a lot of families who they don't actually even have a bike so what is the point of giving them all this training and then there's nothing they can do with it but I've managed to use my ward fund to buy bikes that stay within the schools that they loan out to children for the whole year they're in doing their cycling proficiency so those families have a bike for the very first time and seeing the excitement on those children's faces when those 30 bikes turned up at school nothing can actually replace that so it's a fantastic thing that we do with it and it's as you say about that legacy but it's something that will continue those bikes will stay in that school we're looking have the help we have with the bikes help group they will come and they will if any maintenance needs doing they'll be done so those families in all of those areas have got access to that so there's just so many things and I think to me it's a small amount of money that makes a big difference so I won't use the word hope we are continuing with this leader and I thank you for it thank you Shirley councillor Nelson thank you leader and thank you for the report the group has previously supported the water fund initiative and we're not about to change now there are a lot of values to it which I'll go into but I'll add my thanks as others have made to the work of the officers we don't normally name officers but I'm going to Fran Bache has been exemplary in my experience over the years I was very interested by two comments that a colleague Ollie Vickers made one was you know the request about how much money have I got left I must admit I asked that I put that down to age but obviously not okay the way the pride the not pride the ward fund initiative has evolved in my case only over 9-10 years has been one could say quite interesting it's become it started out and has become quite light touch in terms of criteria which means that one can focus and you'll forgive me I understand why the report brands the ward fund initiative according to the council's priorities and describes that all councillors are delivering the council's priorities but obviously I'm not delivering the council's priorities I'm delivering my residents' priorities that they dovetail it's a happy accident unfortunate and a good thing but what I'm doing is delivering what the residents want and need and the scheme has facilitated that by being very light touch in terms of criteria and that's a tremendous value and it means that 54 of us could spread out each with perhaps 10 schemes each year you end up with thousands of interventions at a very very personal individual level for the groups that we cycle the money through not ourselves not us spending money they're spending the money and that puts first of all a tremendous level of probity into the system because most of the money certainly in my case goes through volunteer groups and they're paranoid about spending money honestly and being transparent so that's a great defence for our officer corps that they're making good use of the money and that secondly as Councillor Everton has referred small sums to an organisation with a net revenue budget you know of 150 170 million a big sum of money to lots of individuals and which can be spent on things which are if you like ephemeral passing support to subs well that's that's that's spent and then it's gone or something really lasting which might be a piece of high street furniture that you can trip over the next 10 years in the case of Newport no one has tripped over yet by the way I'd like to to make that point so what I'd ask is it's not a plea as such but it's been almost pleasurable to be able to be supportive of this programme the spirit behind it of being able to add value to our communities through a very light touch and low criteria means and with the money being spent by organisations who you know are going to spend it wisely and carefully not with gratitude it's the wrong term but appreciation and that's been very very noticeable we had a slight note interjected of a partisan note by my colleague and I hope we don't see that coming forward it's been very easy to support the project because it's come across to me it's been non-partisan cross-party we can all support it in our own way thank you thank you councillor nelson thank you for everyone's comments on that wonderful report councillor meta everyone's put forward some fantastic examples you can all quote examples it's really powerful in your own ward though so if I just look through the list of things I've supported in the past youth activities I've committed some to the youth club that we've started in Arlston and college ward also the memories and pensioners lunches it struck me then that I'm closer to being a regular at the pensioners lunches club than I am a regular at the youth club which is quite sobering but no wonderful wonderful that impact that it has for relatively small amounts of money and actually has the power this scheme has had the power to convert the biggest critic into some of its biggest supporters and that is a reference to you and your group Tim and it's great that you're now well and truly on board on this and that you support the council's priorities but also you support this scheme and we'll support the ongoing extension of this scheme which I know will feature in our budget that will come forward in February's meeting so I look forward to your support on that one that's it I think that's been a really really productive session today thank you thank you to everyone who's put hard work oh vote sorry you've got a vote yes yes sorry everyone in favour yeah second vote that's it brilliant thank you to everyone thank you to the officers because I know a lot of preparation goes into these meetings and it often goes unseen but thank you for that thank you to everyone for their comments and enjoy the rest of your day and have a good weekend and have a good weekend and have a good weekend and have a good weekend and have a good weekend and have a good weekend and have a good weekend and have been here and have a good week and have a good weekend and have a good weekend so I want to be a quick and have a good weekend so that you can give us the weekend and have a good weekend and have a good weekend and have a bad weekend and have a good weekend and have a good weekend but anytime and have you all determ Medip