Friday 22 April

Friday 22 April, 2022

Back to work after the long Bank Holiday weekend, my week began on Tuesday with a visit to the Head of Steam Museum in Darlington to attend a special event announcing a new feature-length documentary that tells the story of the Stockton & Darlington Railway. The film forms part of celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway so it was great to see a few clips of the film in the lead-up to the bicentenary screening.

I spent the rest of the afternoon on the interview panel to appoint the Council's new Assistant Director of Procurement and Governance. As the Senior Management Restructure is now under way, interviews continued throughout the week with the panel to appoint the Council's new Assistant Director of Housing and Fairer Stockton taking place on Thursday morning.

Later that day I chaired a busy Cabinet meeting where Members considered an update on the Council's events programme to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. There was also a report on the next stages of the 'A Fairer Stockton-on-Tees' framework aimed at tackling inequalities in the Borough.

At Cabinet I was delighted to be joined by one of our Bright Minds Big Futures members as part of the national Councillor Shadowing scheme for young people. The scheme has been developed to offer young people leadership experience and recognise their understanding and involvement in local democracy. It's also a great opportunity for them to share their concerns and aspirations with local leaders and learn how they can make a difference in their local communities but it's also a valuable experience for councillors like myself to get involved in.

I'll be spending time with my family at the weekend as well as watching Boro take on Swansea City on Saturday. I'm hopeful for a much-needed victory to be back in with a chance for promotion.