Announcements by:

1.     The Lord Mayor

2.     The Chief Executive

The Lord Mayor, Cllr Simmons, made a number of announcements.

He led Council in thanking the City Council staff for continuing to deliver front line services through the lockdown as a result of the COVID19 pandemic.

He reported briefly on his fundraising dinner (£2600 raised); an 8 day rail trip to Oxford’s European twin cities (Wroclaw, Leiden, Bonn) in late February; the many kind messages from the twin towns in support of the city during the COVID19 outbreak; cancelled events but a growing number of online events.

At the Lord Mayor’s invitation, the City Rector, Rev Anthony Buckley, addressed councillors.

The Lord Mayor, Cllrs Turner, Malik, Azad, Altaf Khan and Aziz paid tribute to retired councillor Sabir-Hussain Mirza who had died on 23 April, and spoke about his life and his contribution to the city.

The Chief Executive updated councillors on the Council’s response to the COVID19 pandemic and 8 week lockdown, and the major changes to the council’s processes and planning that had been made in these weeks, including support in the community, emergency planning, communications, and the move to online meetings. He thanked staff for their work and response to challenges in these difficult circumstances. He reported that the council’s procedures and Constitution had now reverted from the emergency arrangements back to the normal arrangements.

Announcements by:

1.    The Lord Mayor

2.    The Chief Executive (if any)

The Lord Mayor reminded councillors of the arrangements for the civic ceremonies following the meeting.