12 September 2025
Hello everyone, I hope you had a great weekend. Monday started with a regular catch up between myself and Mike Greene, Chief Executive. Clare Harper attended the first part of the briefing to give me an update on the mid term financial plan.
I then held meetings with members of the Cabinet for our one to one briefings and to check in on progress in their portfolios.
Monday evening, I chaired Cabinet pre-agenda ahead of our Cabinet meeting next Thursday.
On Tuesday I met with various Unions for our quarterly catch ups. I then did a piece for the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) to talk about the Youth Guarantee Trailblazer Scheme, which provides paid and non-paid work placements for young people aged 18-21 across the region who are not in work, education or training. I really enjoyed going to our fabulous Employment Hub and meeting some of the amazing young people. The scheme is an excellent achievement, and we have over 600 young people across the Tees Valley who want to access the scheme. I then met with traders from our Shambles Market Hall.
On Wednesday, I had a lovely visit to Yarm where I met local, independent visitors to listen to their issues and just a lovely general catch up over lunch. I then chaired the Health and Wellbeing Board pre agenda meeting in preparation for our upcoming meeting.
Yesterday (Thursday) I spent most of the day travelling up to Glasgow to attend the 2025 Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) Awards. It was an honour to be there representing Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, and I'm incredibly proud to share that we were shortlisted for the Overall Council of the Year award. We were also finalists in three other categories: Best Innovation or Demand Management Initiative, Best Service Team of the Year for our Cemetery and Crematorium service and Best Collaborative Working Initiative.
I'm also proud to announce that we won the Best Collaborative Working Initiative award for our Activity Champion Network - a fantastic achievement that highlights the power of partnership and community engagement.
Today, I am travelling back to Borough to attend the reopening of Preston Park for the launch of The Spence Building which opens its doors this weekend. This exciting redevelopment means that residents and visitors can now enjoy a unique cultural and heritage experience right here in the Tees Valley. It's another proud moment for our Borough, and I can't wait to see the wonderful transformation.
I always speak about 'golden nugget' moments, and although this week has been challenging, I have to say that my pride for the Borough, the fabulous Council staff that support me and our residents has filled me with pride this week.
Tomorrow I will support one of our neighbouring Boroughs, Darlington at their Rhythm and Blues festival along with lots of family and friends. I hope everyone has a great weekend.
