Minutes:
The Leader welcomed those visitors who had attended this evening’s meeting.
The Leader said it was always a privilege to address this Chamber, especially this evening, but more importantly, it was a responsibility and that leadership was not about titles or ceremony but always delivering for the people that Councillors served.
Looking back over the past year, progress and ambition had been turned into action for the borough’s residents and had stood tall which resulted in it being formally recognised last year as Council of the Year for the second time.
The Council had kept a strong financial footing and had continued to invest while facing difficult decisions head on.
At Station Quarter, there was a bold vision now taking shape with new homes, new businesses, new education facilities, new opportunities and it would be a development that was not just transforming a place but transforming life chances.
In Wellington, a high street with history had been secured for the future with a market that had served generations now modernised and thriving again, not by accident, but through deliberate investment and commitment.
In Oakengates, a transformation was underway with a new theatre built to last for the next two generations now taking shape and would provide new energy and a renewed identity for that community.
In the south of Telford, in Sutton Hill, the first community and health hub would be built for the borough, which would bring new opportunities for that community.
The Council’s vision for a child-friendly Telford mattered so much, because it said something fundamental about who the people of the borough were, a borough that believed every child mattered and a borough that invested in future generations.
The Council had expanded family hubs, increased its support for families and was creating more school places where these were needed, which included 100 new special educational needs places.
It was supporting residents through the lowest council tax in the region, on average £600 pounds less than neighbouring Shropshire, Staffordshire and Walsall, and there remained an ongoing commitment to keep it the lowest.
Also, the Council was keeping transport affordable by extending a £2 bus fare cap across the entire network.
The Council would maintain its commitment to its local high streets by investing and driving footfall to support local businesses. It was investing in safer communities, to ensure residents felt safe in their neighbourhoods and was reacting rapidly for any problems to be fixed, such as two hours for a litter pick, 24 hours for some fly tips; offensive graffiti in two hours; reported potholes responded to within seven days; next day replacement of household bin when needed etc.
The Council was taking its services to the streets with a new Here to Help bus and was supporting young people through youth provision, activities and opportunities and was expanding youth clubs from the 32 already in play.
The Council was also delivering for veterans. The Christopher Turley Armed Forces hub in Dawley, had already been named the only VALOUR hub in the region, with 10 homes for veterans to be delivered soon.
The Council was also investing in health and supporting projects such as the new cancer treatment centre to bring care closer to residents in Telford and Wrekin.
The Leader went on to talk about pride, which was equally important. Over the past year, communities had come together to celebrate where they lived and taking ownership of their place.
There remained the ambition to become the UK's first town of culture which reflected a confidence the Council and residents had in its borough and what could still be achieved. A borough where every child had the opportunity to thrive. A borough where communities felt proud, where they felt safe, and where they felt connected. A borough where opportunity was not limited by background but lifted by ambition.
The next chapter would not be written by chance, but by people who cared about the borough, who believed in its potential and who were prepared to put in the hard work to realise it.
He urged that the Council go forward with confidence in what it had achieved, in what it stood for and in what it could become. This borough did not stand still, it moved forward, stronger, fairer, more ambitious with every step and that his administration would be there, leading with honesty, serving with purpose and delivering and always on the side of its residents.
The Leader of the Conservative Group
Councillor Eade said it was the Council’s duty to protect its communities, its countryside, its well-being, and to be on the side of the borough’s residents yet applications had already been submitted to rip up the local countryside, even before plans to do so had been approved by the Government's inspectors.
He questioned why the Administration had not sought help or even represented tenants and homeowners that faced high and sometimes increasingly extortionate estate management fees for unadopted roads, footpaths and maintenance while having to pay Council Tax for the same services?
The Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group
Councillor Tomlinson said he would like the pledge taken by Councillors at the Annual Meeting to include that, as individual Councillors and as political groups, a pledge to make Councillors’ own wards and borough a better place for everyone to live in and that they work strenuously to that point to see if that could be achieved.
He took the opportunity to thank the officers on the Council for the sterling work they did. They tried their hardest with fewer resources and he recognised it was not an easy task.
He referenced the Council of the Year Award, its Children's Social Services Team, which had been recognised as “outstanding” again and its Adult Services which had been recognised as “good.”
Not many authorities around the country could say this and as well as thanking all the officers for all the work that they did, he particularly wanted to recognise the valuable contributions made by those voluntary groups that worked within the borough, for no financial reward.
He spoke of individuals, families and groups who were trying to play their part voluntarily and hoped the Council would pledge not just to be the traditional Council of the past, which provided services, but that it also use its funding with discretion to help those voluntary groups, the Council’s partners, in supporting them and promoting them in all that they did.
He hoped for a much more positive approach to Council meetings, with less vitriol thrown around on all sides and that the business carry on as it had to carry on, whilst challenging everything it did.