Mayor’s first Cabinet meeting to be in South Bristol

The Mayor will be holding his first cabinet meeting at The Park Centre in Knowle next Thursday (20th December) as part of his commitment of opening up local democratic decision making.

The meeting will be held in the centre’s main hall and starts at 6pm. The Mayor has promised to hold at least half of his monthly cabinet meetings outside the City Hall in communities across the city.

Mayor George Ferguson said: “It is vital that we are open and transparent about the decisions that are taken on behalf of Bristol residents. One way I want to achieve this is by holding at least half the cabinet meetings out in the communities of the city to connect cabinet more with the particular people and issues in different parts of the city.

“The Park Centre is a great Bristol success story and an ideal place to hold my first cabinet meeting. It is a vibrant community centre in the heart of South Bristol and is a good example of what can be achieved through social enterprise when local people are given the power to shape the services and facilities they need.”

Reports going to next week’s Cabinet cover the following key themes:

· Helping the vulnerable and tackling poverty: this includes a report on plans to fully fund the new local Council Tax Benefit scheme; and a report to extend the Compass Centre’s contract for a further 18 months - the centre works with rough sleepers and single homeless people.
· Efficiency, joint working and sustainability - new lower energy traffic light contract which is looking at greater savings from discussions with neighbouring councils around sharing the contract.

For more information on the cabinet reports please see www.bristol.gov.uk

For more information on The Park please see http://www.theparkknowle.co.uk/