Minutes:
The Mayor reminded council members of the Tony Christie Charity Concert on Saturday 10th February to raise funds for Dementia Charities in Tamworth.
Also, an invitation has been sent for the Mayors Civic Ball on Friday 8th March to raise funds for the Mayors chosen charities.
The Leader made the following announcement.
Firstly, I would like to update the council that we are moving to an exciting new phase on the future High Street fund delivery. We are due to have some new graphics put on the hoardings in the town centre so that any one passing by can see what I happening or due to happen. And form the old Christophers down to the Pound Bakery demolition is imminent so people will start to see some positive action in the Town Centre.
In the council before Christmas, I announced it was my intention to look to form a coalition with Tamworth Independent Futures Group. Cllr Cook and I have had some very good conversations with a lot of good will and a lot of common ground between us, but we have not been able to reach an agreement. There is no ill will at all, and we will both continue to deliver for Tamworth. No ill will but no agreement reached.
Councillor Tina Clements made the following announcement
I think we all agree it would be remiss if one of us didn’t stand up and mention Ben Newman, Ben AKA Spudman the TikTok sensation that he is. As we all know he held an event in the town centre on Saturday and I think those of us that visited the Town centre could certainly see the appeal of Spudman and his band of spud army not just in Tamworth across the world it would seem there were visitors from Malaysia and Dubai and I think we can certainly say that he is a smash hit through all of his TikTok videos. I think we can all agree that the event was a great attraction for Tamworth it wasn’t a council initiative, but it certainly bought people into the Town centre. He also set up a go fund me page for kidney research and most of us will know that Ben as had kidney surgery, so I am hoping he as raised quite a bit. The town centre was full the pubs were brimming the traders were selling out. If you walked down market street although they said there was a bit of a que at first it soon moved so that people could get through. The Castle Hotel was fully booked, Christophers fully booked so again it bought a lot of people into the town and behalf of everyone here we would like to wish him all the best in his recovery because we know he’s been doing things that he shouldn’t be doing, and he needs now to rest and recuperate. And who knows Mr Mayor perhaps you could be the next Tik Tok sensation.
Councillor A Cooper made the following announcement:
I would like to announce that are a few
changes in Portfolio in Cabinet, the events are going to be handed
over to my colleague Cllr T Clements.
that then leaves me to focus on Leisure Strategy for our amazing
town. Part of that will be building a
strategy ready for the Tamworth of tomorrow to give a nice strategy
review to look at needs and requirements for this town and its
people so we can deliver a leisure strategy for the people of today
and tomorrow. This as to be fit for the
town it as to be fit for what is required for the town it as to be
affordable, we don’t want to fall into the trap of some
neighbouring authorities where we overspend and we end up in a bit
of sticky situation. We are going to
make it affordable and the prime example of this is what already
going to be kicking off with the new 3G football pitch in amington
it is a fantastic addition to our town, spike in funding as been
met by the FA we haven’t had to dig into our own
pockets. Majority of the funding is
coming through the FA we should be seeing external funding coming
into our town to give us some great facilities this will allow us
to expand out football reach to allow more teams thew ability to
come and play at some fantastic facilities in Amington.
Councillor M Summers made the following announcement:
We along with other organisations in Tamworth put in a bid to the County Council for a fund called Covid Outbreak Management Fund all bids submitted to the County Council for that fund have been approved, which is absolutely great news and the total approved is £251,342.00 and some of the projects that Tamworth Borough council will be delivering with the money are
Funding for an empty homes officer to inform the council approach around bringing empty homes back into use. Obviously, we hear rumblings that we have empty properties lying around that we should be utilizing for people who need them and that is funded up to September 2024
Cooking lessons within supported housing for vulnerable tenants
De-humidifiers for private sector housing to assist damp, mould concerns reported
Contribution to expand the current free holiday activities manged by Tamworth Borough Council
Restart of a move on support budget for rough sleepers
Top up funding for the eco flex scheme to ensure vulnerable applicants can be assisted where the grant provided does not quite meet the full cost of home energy upgrade efficiency measures.
So, all the projects listed there must be completed by 30th September 2024. There are others that partners have put in for example Belgrave allotments got a composting toilet and that’s some good news as my colleague said bringing external funding into our town is important at times like this to get some good projects on the go and that’s just a selection of what we are doing with the money.