25 October 2024

To start the week, I joined the other Tees Valley Leaders for our monthly meeting. These meetings give each of the local authority leaders the chance to discuss what's happening in their area and are a good way to share successes and learning opportunities with each other.

Councillor Lisa Evans, Deputy Leader, and I then met with Mike Greene, Chief Executive, and Tracey Carter, Director of Regeneration and Inclusive Growth. This area has a lot of very exciting plans including the Central Stockton and North Thornaby Blueprint and the Tees Valley Care and Health Innovation Zone (TVCHIZ), so it was good to catch up with Tracey and discuss how the projects are progressing.

In the afternoon, I joined the North East and North Cumbria Strategic Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) meeting.

Tuesday to Thursday, I attended the Local Government Authority (LGA) Conference held in Harrogate. The conference hosts senior representatives from local and central government, as well as senior colleagues from other public sector bodies, charities and businesses. There were many interesting speakers on topics such as care leaver support, emissions reduction and inclusive growth, and it was useful to hear how colleagues tackle these issues in their own authorities.

Today, I am catching up with Garry Cummings, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Finance, Transformation and Performance, about the next stage of the Household Support Fund. The fund offers support to low-income households and you can read more about it here.

We are also hosting a fantastic range of sporting events at Durham University Queens campus to raise money for Show Racism the Red Card. Show Racism the Red Card is the UK's leading anti-racism educational charity, providing educational workshops, training sessions, multimedia packages and more, all with the purpose of tackling racism in society. For information about Show Racism the Red Card or to make a donation visit the Show Racism the Red Card website.

This weekend I'll be spending some time with my family and relaxing. Last weekend Middlesbrough suffered a devastating 2-0 home defeat against Bristol, but recovered mid-week with a hard-fought win against Sheffield. This weekend we play Norwich away, and we need to start putting together some wins if we want to be challenging for promotion. It's crucial that we're in the top six before Christmas to set ourselves up for the second half of the season.