To receive a report from the Leader of the Council on the business of the cabinet and on matters that the leader considers should be drawn to the council’s attention. The leader shall have 10 minutes to make his announcements.
The opposition group will have an opportunity to reply to the leader’s remarks. The opposition group leader shall have 5 minutes to respond after which the Leader of the Council will have a right of reply. Any right of reply will be for a maximum duration of 5 minutes.
Minutes:
The Leader of the Council made the following announcements:
“Good evening to you all.
As this is probably the last full council meeting of this administrative term, I would like to say thank you to you all as, apart from one contentious project, we have all worked well together for the good of our residents implementing many forward looking policies and projects, despite the vagaries introduced by the covid lockdowns.
One that, for me, particularly stands out is the commissioning of the Folkestone Town Plan, which had been talked about for more than thirty years. It gave us the evidence for a Levelling Up Bid which was successful to the tune of £19,200,000. Our bid was supported by a short promotional film, that am sure convinced the government that we were on song with their levelling up agenda, and was a major consideration in getting our allocation. If you have not done so, I exhort you to watch it and take pride in its message.
I would like to thank all of the members of my cabinet for their whole hearted support, and as I understand they are not standing again, specifically thank Councillor Whybrow and Councillor Field for their input. I wish them well for the future.
This afternoon I was able to attend a staff briefing where I made a presentation to Karen Everett for her 45 years of service, and I praised the staff for all of their work over the last four tumultuous years, the effectiveness of which is recognised by the award of 16 compliance plusses for Customer Service Excellence.
For those of you not standing again I wish you well, you will in various degrees be missed, and for those standing again, in various degrees, good luck.
I move that the council accepts my report.”
The Leader of the opposition responded to the announcements with the following:
“I largely echo that sentiment. It's been a very interesting four years
for myself; not where I thought I'd find myself when I was working in kitchens a few years ago, but I've thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I thank everyone in this room for the debate and support, and I think we have done quite good things.
I'd like to thank the members of my group as well, I'd like to think that we've brought some items of business to the chamber for debate that's hopefully improved the council.
To members who are not standing again, thank you very much. I would very much like to be here after the elections in May, there's many more things to do, but I'll leave that to the will of the people.
Congratulations to Karen, as we noted in the last full Council meeting. I would also like to make special mention of one other officer, who I have a high level of respect for, and who is leaving us on Friday, that's Lee Walker. I’d just like to offer a personal note of gratitude from this Chamber for all the hard work that he has done over the years for this council, thank you.”
Proposed by Councillor Monk,
Seconded by Councillor Mrs Hollingsbee; and
RESOLVED:
That the announcements of the Leader be noted.
(The recommendation was agreed by affirmation of the meeting).