Monday of this week proved to be a busy day as a joined GM Mayor Andy Burnham, councillor colleagues and organisations from across the region at Greater Manchester’s annual Green Summit.  The event was held at The Lowry in Salford Quays and I was on stage to chair the morning plenary session. At the session I was joined by environment experts who reflected on achievements made during the previous Five Year Environment Plan before we all looked ahead to the new Greater Manchester Five-Year Environment Plan 2025–2030.  I was so pleased to see our new plan launch following a lot of engagement, preparation and planning.  It’s ambitious -but that’s how it should be given the significant challenge climate change poses to us all.

Following my session I enjoyed listening to other speakers including Energy Minister Miatta Fahnbulleh, the Chair of Natural England Tony Juniper, and Andy Burnham himself.  I also visited many of the stalls present- including Friends of the Earth Manchester. The National Trust, Manchester Bike Kitchen and Walk Ride GM.  It was a great day, and I even caught up briefly with a friend from university who I had not seen in over 15 years.

On Tuesday I travelled over to Altrincham to join a Homestart meeting there before heading back to the Town Hall for another of our ‘Let’s Talk’ events with our Trafford Council workforce.  This was one of two Let’s Talk events this week and the topics included the Council’s financial situation, the wonderful work taking place around digital inclusion, personal health and wellbeing, and our LGA Corporate Peer Challenge taking place next month.  The session opened with an update from the Chief Executive and I closed it with my reflection on the event and on this year.

The Council’s financial position returned as a theme on Wednesday with another of our regular Finance and Change meetings.  We’re currently working through the implications of recent UK Government announcements and their impact on next year’s budget.  We also continue to monitor the performance of our current budget in order to keep it on track.  Funding remains a considerable challenge for most local authorities and we continue to lobby for fairer funding for Trafford.

During the afternoon I had several meetings, including an update from our Head of Digital where we discussed the impact recent cyber threats have had on our web pages and the efforts made to restore services.  We also talked about the ongoing need we all have to ensure we’re cyber-security aware given the number of scams and threats out there.

On Thursday I travelled to Sale Town Hall for our second Let’s Talk of the week before heading back on the tram to Stretford for my weekly meeting with the Chief Executive.  After this I went over to Stretford Library where I had one of my regular advice sessions for Stretford & Humphrey Park residents and had the chance to catch up on some emails.

Finally on Friday I attended the December meeting of Greater Manchester Combined Authority at Manchester Town Hall where we received an update on the Bee Network performance, building safety, and what more we can do collectively to give our children and young people the best start in life.  The meeting ended with a local primary school treating us to some festive songs.

That afternoon I returned to the Town Hall for a couple of meetings, including a catch up with my predecessor and now local MP, Andrew Western.  It was good to hear about what is happening in Parliament as well as discussing matters closer to home.