We held our full council meeting today, at which the new Lord Mayor and Sheriff of Nottingham were sworn in. Councillors Wendy Smith and Nicola Heaton take up the respective roles after years of dedicated service on the council. Cllr Smith has been a councillor for Bilborough since 2013 and Cllr Heaton has been representing The Meadows, since 2011. I congratulate them both on their appointments and I?m sure they will devote their year in office to serving the people of Nottingham diligently. My thanks to their predecessors Councillors Dave Trimble and Merlita Bryan for their committed service over the last year

We also approved the new Executive team of councillors who take up their posts from today including a new deputy leader, Councillor Adele Williams. She has overseen the council?s Adult Social Care agenda since 2019 and I look forward to working closely with her.

I?d like to say a huge thank you to Councillor Sally Longford who has supported me in her role of Deputy Leader for the past three years. She has set Nottingham on an ambitious journey towards environmental sustainability and despite standing down as Deputy Leader, I?m pleased that Sally will continue to drive forward improvements in air quality, sustainable energy, retro-fitting of social housing and biodiversity for our city.

I?d also like to thank Councillors Webster, Healy and Campbell-Clark who have stood down from the executive this year. You can find out more about the revised political leadership of the council here

At full council we also covered a range of topics including thelibraries consultation, support for the Windrush Generation (more on these below), the Housing Revenue Account, Victoria Market Consultation and more. Further Information on today?s full council can be found here.

The City Council today renewed its support for the Windrush Generation, who have been so badly let down by the Home Office. The council resolved to continue to mark Windrush?Day on 22 June in Nottingham annually as a civic celebration to recognise and honour the enormous contribution of those who arrived between 1948 and 1973.

We are aware that members of the?Windrush?Generation residing in Nottingham may have suffered loss and unfair treatment and offer our ongoing support to them finding advice, advocacy and compensation.

Thank you to everyone who took part in our libraries consultation The Next chapter. We received nearly 3,000 responses, including submission from school children and 220 people took part in our on-line and in-person public consultation sessions.

The way in which people use library services has changed and will continue to do so ? and we need to make sure we evolve to meet these needs. Your responses will help the council design a high-quality library service that is fit for the future, financially sustainable and responds to a new generation of library customers.

A set of recommendations around future library delivery is expected to be put forward later in the year.

We always have a great response from our communities to Days of Action taking place to target issues that are most important to them, so I?m pleased we once again have a programme planned for all the city wards, starting this Wednesday in Mapperley. We work with our partners at Nottinghamshire Police and Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service, as well as with local residents, to carry out activity such as deep cleans, community litter picks, crime patrols, fire safety advice and targeting problem hotspots.

I?ll certainly be joining in when the Day of Action comes to my Dales ward in a couple of weeks. I would encourage everyone to keep a lookout for when they are coming to your area and take part to help us keep all our neighbourhoods clean and safe. It?s a top priority for our residents and for the City Council, who tackle these issues on a daily basis. More information here

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