9 February 2024

On Monday afternoon, I attended the Cabinet pre-agenda meeting in advance of Cabinet next week. The agenda included the Scrutiny Review of Domestic Waste Collections, Kerbside Recycling and Green Waste, the Environmental Sustainability and Carbon Reduction Strategy (ES&CRS) 2022-32 Monitoring Report, and school performance 2022 to 2023 for vulnerable pupils.

I then joined a Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) special group with Garry Cummings and Clare Harper, Director and Assistant Director of Finance, Transformation and Procurement. The MTFP will be reported to Cabinet on Monday 12 February.

On Tuesday, I attended a briefing with Mike Greene, Chief Executive, directors and Cabinet members to look at the next Cabinet agenda in detail.

Mid-week, I attended a meeting with our councillors and directors to discuss the MTFP.

Yesterday, I attended the Council's internal Customer Service Awards held at ARC. The awards recognise staff, apprentices and teams that go above and beyond to provide excellent service. It is a great opportunity to acknowledge the hard work our staff put in each year, well done to our winners.

Today, Mike Greene and I are visiting York Central along with Councillor Nigel Cooke, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Housing, Marc Cole, Interim Director of Regeneration and Inclusive Growth, and other members of the team. York Central is a new space in York that is one of the UK's largest brownfield regeneration sites at 45 hectares. It has transformed underused land into residential neighbourhoods, cultural spaces and a high-quality commercial quarter. We are excited to see what we can learn and apply to our plans for the new Care and Health Zone at Teesdale Business Park and nearby Tees Marshalling Yards.

At the weekend I'll be spending some time with my family and relaxing. Middlesbrough disappointingly walked away with a 1-1 draw against Sunderland last weekend as the play-off spots continue to elude us. If we're serious about getting promotion this season, we need to see a string of good results, starting with a win against Bristol City on Saturday.