14 July 2023

Following the LGA conference last week, Monday started with a meeting with Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, the LGA President and Mike Green, our Chief Executive. We discussed the Council's strategy moving forward, and how learning from the conference will influence the plan.

On Tuesday morning I attended the Collaborative Procurement Sub-Committee, run by the Association of North East Councils. It is a very useful meeting which seeks to collectively get authorities in the North East the best deal possible on all things procurement. In this meeting we discussed apprenticeship programmes and electric vehicle charging infrastructure among other things.

In the afternoon I had a Health and Wellbeing Board pre-agenda meeting ahead of the full meeting later this month.

Mid-week I attended Norton Primary School as part of my role as a school governor.

At yesterday's Cabinet meeting there was lots to go through, including a report on the Council's Volunteering Strategy, and a report outlining the Council's vision for the future, which we're calling Powering Our Future. As this develops I'll keep you up to date with what's happening and how you can get involved.

We also approved a review to recruit a Director of Regeneration and Growth to take charge of the incredibly innovative and amazing things happening in our six towns, including the massive Riverside development in Stockton Town Centre.

Today I'm making the most of a quiet day to catch up on emails and paperwork.

I'm looking forward to spending some time with my family at the weekend, and hopefully the weather will improve. I was delighted to see England win the UEFA Under-21 Championship last weekend. Hopefully it's a sign of a bright future for the national team.