Councillor Stephens (Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport) highlighted the following: 

 

a)    Gave thanks to all staff and Councillors who had supported him in his new role as a Cabinet Member; 
 

b)    A38 Manadon interchange schemeconsultation: 

 

                      i.        Currently within the 6 week period of the consultation; 
 

                     ii.        Gave thanks to staff involved for the way they had worked with stakeholders; 
 

c)    The campaign for better transport bus day was 17 June 2025 with an event for ribbon cutting for the new electric buses and would be attended by public and representatives from the Department for Transport; 
 

d)    A transport marketplace would also be set up to demonstrate all the new sustainable transport opportunities in Plymouth; 
 

e)    Stoke 20mph zones and the improved road crossings would begin to come into effect that week and was expected to extend within two years; 
 

                              i.        Stuart Road primary school to provide street art that was road safety orientated in the scheme area; 
 

                             ii.        The winner of the best art piece would receive a prize; 
 

f)     TheBig Wheel Challenge takes place every March in Plymouth schools and it encourages children to walk, cycle or scoot to school and there had been a significant increase in schools taking part in the challenge; 
 

                              i.        Winning schools would receive a BMX Stunt Show; 
 

                             ii.        Encouraging children to walk, cycle or scoot to school, encourages parents to find other ways to get around; 
 

                            iii.        Thanked the staff involved who facilitated this.  

 

 

Councillor Haydon (Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Libraries, Evens, Cemeteries and Crematoria) gave the following updates: 

 

g)    Summer Sessions were due to take place that week: 
 

                              i.        Plymouth City Council(PCC) and Live Nation had organised an educational walk-around for students in the events industry around the Summer Sessions site on the Hoe with a question and answer session; 
 

                             ii.        Live Nation provided complimentary tickets to foster carers; 
 

                            iii.        They had provided grassroots slots for local artists; 
 

                            iv.        Local crew had been recruited to set up and ‘break down’ the staging; 
 

                             v.        Two local caterers had been booked to trade on the site; 
 

h)    Armed Forces Day flag raising would take place on Monday 23 June 2025 at Plymouth Guildhall and the beginning of Armed Forces Week; 
 

i)     Strength of the spirit games would take place on Thursday 26 June 2025, including 24 schools due to take part in the rowing challenge; 
 

j)     Armed Forces weekend would have the Merlin helicopter, a display from the Black Cat helicopters, a field gun show, poppy display, dive tank and climbing wall; 
 

                              i.        Gave thanks to the Devon County Royal British Legion Branch, for their support and generous sponsorship and Councillor Murphy in her support in securing this; 
 

k)    Plymouth Libraries had grown significantly in attendances, recording 46,500 visits since 1 April 2025 with a range of workshops and events to improve public interaction; 
 

                              i.        2026 would mark the 10^th anniversary of the opening of Central Library and the 150^th anniversary of Plymouth’s first free library. 

 

Councillor Briars-Delve (Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change) provided the following updates: 

 

l)     Plymouth were the first to create a Habitat Bank that was now known as ‘Ocean City Nature’; 
 

                              i.        PCC had secured Natural England approval for Ham Woods to be the first of  three pilot habitat bank sites; 
 

                             ii.        Ham Woods was made up of 35 hectares of nature reserve and made up 12% of Plymouth’s total local nature reserve estate; 
 

                            iii.        The approval from Natural England, secured conservation funding for the next 30 years and this actively supported sustainable developments; 
 

m)  The Big Green Trail, organised by Plymouth City Council in association with a number of partner organisations, aimed to get people involved in nature and climate through free and fun family nature activities; 
 

                              i.        Gave thanks to transport providers as they offered sustainable modes of transport for people to get around the trail; 
 

                             ii.        Plymouth City Bus were providing a hop on, hop off service along all of these trail routes. 

 

Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Co-operative Development and Communities) gave the following updates:  

 

n)    PCC had been working with housing providers for over 10 years as part of Plan for Homesand in excess of 1,100 new homes had been built on surplus Council sites; 
 

                              i.        64%of those were affordable home, which was more than 30% of the local plan requirement, demonstrating Plymouth Labour’s commitment to providing affordable, high quality and social rented homes; 
 

                             ii.        Despite the private sector was not providing the level of affordable housing that Plymouth needed, but PCC was doing everything it could to tackle the housing shortage and homelessness crisis; 
 

                            iii.        11 new Council sites with the potential for 640 new homes were in the pipeline, of which 288 (45%) were expected to be affordable; 
 

                            iv.        He was working with planning officers to release three new surplus brownfield sites which would provide another 75 affordable and social rented homes on sites that would otherwise be an ongoing liability and eye sore; 
 

                             v.        There was an aim to improve the quality and build standards of the new housing being constructed; 
 

                            vi.        Broadland Gardens, the first direct development for more than 40 years, had been shortlisted forNational Design Award and South WestRegion Michelmores Awards;  
 

                          vii.        If the Council could do it, so could everyone else, a challenge to the private sector; 
 

                         viii.        The Stirling Project, the second veteran self-build development, delivered in partnership with LiveWest was a finalist for the South West Royal Town and Planning Institute Awards and the Local Government Chronicle Awards; 
 

                           ix.        He would be speaking at the opening of the site of the previous North Prospect Library, where Plymouth Community Homes would be opening anadditionaleight new flats; 
 

                            x.        They were the first to benefit from the £80,000 grant given from the Plan for Homes eco-homes program, helping to reduce the carbon footprint of the development, as well as keeping energy bills for residents as low as possible with the installation of solar panels and air source heat pumps; 
 

                           xi.        The funds generated from the sale of Broadland Garden homes would be reinvested into future Plan for Homes projects; 

 

                          xii.        The administration would make their influence count in ensuring that PCC and partners continued to rise to the challenge of the housing crisis; 
 

o)    Transgender Pride would take place on Saturday 14 June 2025 and the Council would be flying the Transgender flag outside of Plymouth Guildhall; 
 

                              i.        He expressed thanks to the Transgender community for raising awareness and organising the event in a difficult time for the community and showed great bravery, ensuring that the community stayed visible; 
 

                             ii.        He urged members of the Transgender community to ensure their voice was heard by responding to the ongoing Equalities and Human Rights Commission consultation because the community had not been consulted during the hearing; 
 

p)    Refugee week was running from 14-20 June 2025 and the theme was ‘Community is a Superpower’ and would launch at the Plymouth Hope Festival in Devonport Park which would showcase sports and music; 
 

                              i.        He thanked Hope, Devon and Cornwall Refugee Service, the Open Doors International Language School, the Give Back Project, The Red Cross, START and Community Builders for organising the events across the week; 
 

q)    Co-operative fortnight would begin on 23 June 2025 and would end with the International Day of Co-ops on 6 July 2025; 
 

                              i.        PCC was proud to be a supporter of the co-operative sector and had commissioned a review of the sector as part of an update to the 2018 action plan; 
 

                             ii.        Plymouth was positioned as a national leader in the co-operative movement, ranking in the top 10% of local authorities for co-operative formations since 2018; 
 

                            iii.        Plymouth was home to 34 thriving co-operatives based in Plymouth, owned and controlled by 8,265 members, employing over 600 people and generating a combined annual turnover of around £4.5 million; 
 

                            iv.        14 new co-operatives had flourished in Plymouth since 2018, demonstrating sector growth nine times faster than the UK average; 
 

                             v.        The Government’s focus on addressing barriers likes access to finance would further empower Plymouth’s co-operative community; 
 

                            vi.        Wished all co-operatives ongoing success.  

 

CouncillorCresswell (Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Apprenticeships) reported the following: 

 

r)    The new SEND (Special Education Needsand Disabilities) graduated approach landing page and had over 2,500 visits since being launched in April 2025; 
 

                              i.        Over 60 positive comments have been received from partners and families; 
 

                             ii.        The page represented the new SEND offer for all children and young people in Plymouth from universal to targeted and to specialist support; 
 

                            iii.        It was a local area partnership resource with guidance and training available for settings but also schools and families for local and regional experts; 
 

                            iv.        The targeted funding model had been launched as part of a new offer and 28 schools were going to be accessing the funding to implement internal, alternative curriculum pathways from September 2025; 
 

                             v.        Positive feedback received from families was important could be used to demonstrate the progress PCC had made; which can be used as further evidence to support the PCC inspection; 
 

                            vi.        Support was better planned and adaptable and a more consistent approach to supporting SEND children and young people; 

 

s)     The new Riverside satellite for Milford school would expand to 50 places in September 2025, with the assessment nursery at Woodlands which would be in place for September 2025, and expansion to Longcause School; 
 

t)     The headteachers of the maintained special schools were working closely with PCC to secure an additional 34 places for September 2025; 
 
 

u)    Staff were working to on the next steps of the sufficiency project to ensure all children and young people had access to the best education possible and the most appropriate provision for their needs; 
 

v)    The Education, Participation and Skills team had been nominated for an LGC Award for supported internships as well as Skills Launchpad, who had supported over 300 people into employment, education and training in the past 12 months, and she wished them all the best of luck; 
 

w)   Government had made an announcement that universal free school meals would be extended for children whose families were in receipt ofuniversal credit and with incomes of less than £7,400 a year, and it would benefit over 10,000 children in Plymouth.  

 

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance)provided the following updates: 

 

x)    Flavour Fest had been a successful event with 120 stores and had an estimated 120,000 visitors and was estimated to have generated about £3 million in revenue; 
 

                      i.        Investment in the city centre to improvement the public realm meant that events like Flavour Fest, could be bigger and better; 
 

                     ii.        Congratulated the City Centre Company on a great event that had received positive feedback from the public; 
 

y)    The City Centre Company would be running an event from 30 June 2025 to 13 July 2025 and showing Wimbledon on the big screen and were working with Paddle United UK to provide a full-size court in the city centre and would be working with MarJons University to host other sporting activities in the area to encourage more people to get involved in sports; 
 

z)    An international food market would be taking place in the city centre shortly; 
 

aa)  Opportunities for local musicians who wish to perform at the Saturday sessions being held weekly were extremely popular. 

 

 

Councillor Aspinall (Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care) updated Cabinet on the following: 
 

bb) Carer’s week had commenced that day which was an annual campaign to raise awareness of caring and highlighted the challenges of unpaid carers; 
 

                              i.        Improving Lives Plymouth had a range of activities during carers week to help connect carers to offer respite and a chance to explore Plymouth. 

 

Councillor Jemima Laing (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care, Culture and Communications) gave the following updates: 

 

cc)  PCC were improving the first response to children and families when professionals and members of the public requested additional support or wanted to report a safeguarding concern; 
 

dd)Out of hours response has been developed to respond to concerns and referrals where children and families needed more help and/or protection, therefore the hours had been extended to 8 am – 8 pm Monday to Friday and 9 am to 5 pm Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays; 
 

                              i.        This is aimed to increase the responsiveness to families and children who are at immediate risk of harm and also individuals at risk of homelessness; 

 

ee) The Forbidden Territories surrealism exhibition at The Box had opened and the launch event had been very well attended and also included an awards ceremony for the winners of The Box children and young people’s art competition surreal estates; 
 

                              i.        The Box received 2,500 visitors on 27 May 2025; 
 

                             ii.        The total footfall for May half term had been 10,809.