Agenda item
Mayor's Announcements (including any petitions received)
To receive any announcements from the Mayor.
Decision:
NOTED the announcements from the Mayor in relation to:
· Pride of Brent Youth Awards
· Harlesden Festival
· Mayors Civic Ceremony
· 125th Anniversary of Willesden Library and Great British High Street Awards 2019
· Opening of Brent Hub Kilburn
· Flag Raising Ceremonies – Jamaican Independence, Pakistan Independence, Indian Independence and Emergency Services Day
· Visits from student groups from The School for Ethics and Global Leadership (USA) and E-associates Educational Consulting (Nigeria)
· Brent Summer Reading Challenge
· Success of Brent students in their GSCE, A Level and Vocational Qualification results
· Mayoral Charity Events – Football Competition (15 October 19) & Christmas Party (6 December 19)
· Support for biodiversity work
· Brent named as joint friendliest borough in London
· Brent Black History Month 2019 – Celebrating Black Excellence (17 October 19)
· Minutes silence in memory of former Councillors Pat Harrison and John Detre
· Petitions
Minutes:
The Mayor made the following announcements:
(i) Pride of Brent Youth awards
The Mayor opened his announcements by expressing his delight in having attended the Pride of Brent Youth Awards in late July. He highlighted the importance of honouring young people across Brent who were making a difference in their communities, often putting others before themselves.
(ii) Harlesden Festival
The Mayor reported that he had attended the 4th Annual Harlesden Festival with Councillors Muhammed Butt and McLeish and was happy to see so many residents there. He congratulated those who had organised the day.
(iii) Civic Ceremony
The Mayor gave his thanks to those who had attended the service in July to mark and celebrate his Civic Year. He took the opportunity to remind Members of his Mayoral charities; the Jason Roberts Foundation and the Sickle Cell Society.
(iv) 125th Anniversary of Willesden Library
The Mayor advised that he had enjoyed attending the celebration for the 125th anniversary of the library at Willesden Green. He commemorated the fact that in 1894 the local community had voted to pay more tax in order to fund the building of a library for local people.
On the subject of Willesden, the Mayor advised that Willesden Green had recently received a visit from the judges of the Great British High Street Awards, a competition celebrating high streets across the UK. He added that Willesden Green was competing with 27 other UK high streets in the ‘Rising Star’ category for 2019 and urged Members to take part in the vote.
(v) Brent Hub Kilburn Opening
The Mayor said he was very proud to officiate at the opening of the Brent Hub, Kilburn, which followed on the heels of the successful Harlesden Hub. He advised that the centre was a facility for local residents to contact Brent Council and local community organisations.
(vi) Flag Raisings
The Mayor thanked everyone who had attended the flag raising events held during the summer to celebrate Jamaican Independence Day, Independence Day of Pakistan, Indian Independence Day and, most recently, Emergency Services Day.
(vii) Visits from Students from Abroad
The Mayor reported that during the summer, along with the Council Leader and Chief Executive, he had played host to groups of students visiting from the School for Ethics and Global Leadership in the USA and from E-associates Educational Consulting in Nigeria. He added that both visits were well received and gave the opportunity to showcase Brent’s achievements in many areas.
(viii) Brent Summer Reading Challenge
The Mayor advised he was delighted to see children taking part in the Brent Libraries Summer Reading Challenge and congratulated those achieving gold medal success, along with everyone who participated in the challenge.
(ix) Student Success
The Mayor asked Council to join him in congratulating students across Brent on a brilliant set of GCSE, A Level and vocational results, which he said had bucked the national trend. He advised that Brent’s overall A Level pass rate (grades A*- E) rose to 97.9%. This had been above the national average, which he felt should be a source of pride to all of Brent’s students, parents and carers and teachers.
(x) Charity events
The Mayor took the opportunity to announce two forthcoming events in the mayoral calendar:
· The Mayoral charity football competition on 15 October in Stonebridge Ward, with Jason Roberts due to be in attendance to raise money for the Mayor’s charities; and
· The traditional Christmas Gala at the Civic Centre on 6 December 2019.
(xi) Support for work on Biodiversity
The Mayor reported that he had enjoyed attending many community events over the summer months, including fetes, sports days and street parties. He advised he was particularly delighted to visit one of Brent’s renowned 'bee corridors' and an urban meadow to witness at first hand the Council’s work in the field of biodiversity.
(xii) Friendliest Borough
The Mayor was happy to note that that Brent had been named in an estate agent survey as the joint-friendliest borough in London, with more than seven out of ten of those surveyed in Brent describing their neighbourhood as friendly. This was the highest in London alongside Richmond upon Thames.
(xiii) Black History Month
The Mayor concluded his announcements by reminding members of Black History Month in October and drew their attention to the flyer detailing related events in Brent.
(xiv) Deaths of former Councillors Pat Harrison and John Detre
The opportunity was also taken by Members at the end of the Mayors Announcements, to pay tribute to former Councillors Pat Harrison and John Detre following their recent deaths.
As a mark of respect, the Mayor invited all present to stand in order to observe a minutes silence.
A minutes silence was observed.
(xv) Petitions
Finally, the Mayor drew members’ attention to the list of current petitions, along with the action being taken to deal with them, which had been tabled at the meeting, in accordance with Standing Orders.