17 July 2026

Friday 17 July 2026

Hello everyone, I hope you have had a good week. Mine has been a busy week full of meetings.

On Monday, I was invited to speak at the Council's Women's Network. It was great to talk about my journey and how I became Leader. More importantly, it was good to listen to the issues the women face and their ideas and plans to shape future policies in the Council.

On Tuesday, I joined the first meeting of the Stockton-on-Tees Youth Council in the Council Chamber. The meeting was absolutely inspiring. The young people had prepared 2-minute speeches and I honestly don't know who I would have voted for. The content of their speeches, what their priorities were, the passion that they showed and how articulate they were was amazing. After many rounds of voting, the Youth Council voted for two Members of Youth Parliament, a deputy, chair, and vice chair. I wish all of the Youth Council the very best of luck.

In the evening, I attended a Group Executive meeting.

Midweek, I caught up with Paul Rowling, Deputy Leader, Mike Greene, Chief Executive, and other senior colleagues about regeneration and inclusive growth. We have some exciting plans in the pipeline, and I look forward to sharing these plans in the future.

Following this, I had various meetings about Council transformation reviews. I then met with colleagues to receive feedback from a peer review in Children's Services.

Yesterday, I started the day with a virtual meeting with the Local Government Association. I then attended a meeting focused on strengthening support for the Armed Forces community in Stockton-on-Tees with colleagues from the Department of Work and Pensions.

In the afternoon I chaired the pre-agenda meeting for the Health and Wellbeing Board to be held on Monday.

Later that day was Cabinet. A busy agenda included our very passionate and inspiring young people from Bright Minds Big Futures, the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) and the Powering Our Futures Transformation Reviews.

I then attended the Teesside University Graduation dinner, a wonderful celebration of our local graduates. It's great to celebrate their success but also an opportunity to meet colleagues and network with new contacts.

Today, I have a meeting with fellow Leaders and colleagues from Tees Valley Combined Authority. I then need to catch up with important case work and emails.

Whatever you are doing, I hope you have a great weekend.