Councillor Laing (Cabinet Member for Children's Social Care, Culture and Communications) provided the following announcements: 

 

a)    David Cottrell, a filmmaker and artist, was creating the first commission for Plymouth as part of Sea for Yourself programme, a collaboration between cultural partners and the National Marine Park ‘Horizons Program’ helping reconnects residents to the ocean through a series of creative digital interventions. David would create the first commission for Plymouth as part of Sea for Yourself; 

                      i.        David, recognised for his visionary public realm and digital work would develop exciting new work that would unfold across multiple site and digital platforms throughout the city; 

 

b)    Hello Sailorwould take place at Tinside Lido, celebrating the National Gallery’s 200^th Anniversary; 

c)    Sir Gabriele Finaldi, the Director of the National Gallery, was hosted in Plymouth for a day on 26 June 2025and unveiled a plaque for Sir Charles Eastlake, who was the first director of the National Gallery and was born in Plymouth, and then visited Tinside Lido, Council house and The Box;

 

d)    An event at Trafalgar Square on the 26 July 2025, named ‘The Triumph of Art’ organised by Turner prizewinning artist Jeremy Deller, The Box was the selected venue for England, (Made up of four parts: England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) having so much history in Plymouth. 

 

Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Cooperative Development and Communities) provided the following announcements: 

 

e)    The North Prospect Regeneration Project won two awards at the South WestRoyal Town Planning Institute. It won the: 

 

              i.        The Best Project Award;

             ii.        The Overall Best in Region Award;

 

f)     Councillor Penberthy attended the Mitchelmores Property Awards and Broadland Gardens won Project of the Year, the ‘35 Homes and Under Award’;

 

g)    Concerning the plot of land up for auction outside Gables Dogs & Cats on Merafield Road, Plymstock. National Highways chose not to sell the land on the open market, but to sell to the Council and then for that land to be sold back to Gables Dogs & Cats Home at the same price. This meant that Gables would maintain the land as a wildlife space at no cost to the Public;

 

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

 

h)    The Royal Improvement Scheme had commenced; 

 

i)     The Plymotion team had been engaging with bus user to help explain the relocation of bus stops;  

 

j)     On the morning of 07 July 2025, a Citybus driver drove the City’s first electric bus, for the number 21 service from to Plympton;

 

k)    Councillor Stephens accompanied ward councillors and school leaders outside Pennycross, Manadon Vale, Compton and Montpelier schools, to discuss road safety concerns during school runs; 

 

l)     Thanked Plymouth City Council’s Road Safety Team led by Suzanne Keith for their work with thousands of children in pedestrian and road safety training programmes across the city. During joint observations, it was good to recognise the good work of School Traffic Patrol people, for the work they did to engage with school communities to help them feel safe. I would urge anyone who knows anyone who had an aptitude and interest to become a school crossing patrol person to look at the Council’s website as there were a few vacancies around the city;  

 

m)  Councillor Stephens emphasised the importance of School Patrol Crossing Officers to engage with school communities and to support safety; 

 

n)    Small infrastructure improvements had been identified to combat inconsiderate driving. 

 

Councillor Haydon (Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Libraries, Events, Cemeteries and Crematoria) provided the following announcements: 

 

o)    Armed Forces Day had been a key fixture of the National Calendar since its arrival in 2008 and the event in 2025 has seen 42,000 people in attendance. Councillor Haydon thanked everyone involved in the delivery of the event with a special thanks for the sponsors of the day; 

 

p)    24 schools took part in the Schools Partnership rowing challenge and feedback was positive; 

 

q)    The Summer Reading challenge was enhanced by councillor community grant funding and would be launched on 11 July 2025 and would be free of charge with the theme of ‘story garden’;  

 

r)    Simon James would share his picture book the Frog and Beaver with students from Tor Bridge primary school; 

 

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

 

s)     PCC received special recognition in Environmental Services for ‘Ocean City’ and ‘Nature’ at the LGC Awards; 

 

t)     The Blue Sparks community grant programme, as part of the National Marine Park programme, and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund pledged that across the next three years, £60,000 would be dedicated to communities, to enhance marine citizenship in the National Marine Park. This would be through small grants of up to £2,500 pounds for grassroots community organisations, to support the development and the delivery of their ideas. They would display art to highlight Plymouth’s heritage assets or improving local blue spaces and would support Britain's Ocean City to be more accessible and enjoyable for all; 

 

u)    In the summer of 2024, Plymouth City Council organised ‘The Summer of Nature’, a series of public events where the council listened to local people to discuss improvements to the green and blue spaces across the City; 

 

v)    The Council’s grounds team were tasked with enhancing roundabout and gateway sites, with vibrant but also pollinator friendly flowers; 

 

w)   The team successfully applied for a grant to commission an award-winning garden designer who created mixed species involved; 

 

x)    Key sites for the change were: St. Budeaux Interchange down to Derry’s Cross nearby to the City Centre; 

 

y)    The flower seeds were planted earlier in the year, which were in full bloom, increasing wildlife in areas across Plymouth; 

 

z)    10,000 bulbs had been agreed to be planted in Spring 2026. 

 

Councillor Cresswell (Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Apprenticeships) provided the following announcements: 

 

aa)  The celebration of the LGC, Diversity and Inclusion Award for the supported internships programme. The placements expanded from nine to 67 in two years and the Council’s partnership with Discovery College achieved a 100% employment success rate. Plymouth’s commitment to empowering young people with learning disabilities, reshaped expectations across the sector; 

 

bb)The On-Course Southwest team secured a silver Pearson award for the ‘Your Futures’ programme; 

 

cc)  The Encore Southwest team had been nominated for a gold award, with the winners being announced in November 2025; 

 

dd)Other winners of the Pearson award included; 

 

              i.        Hannah Donnelly of Ernesettle Primary, for outstanding new teacher of the year; 

             ii.        The Devonport High School for Boys IT team, for their transformational youth of digital technology; 

            iii.        Lisa Grinney of Torbridge Primary School, for teaching assistant of the year. 

 

ee)Mount Street Primary and Millbay Academy were two schools who had been recognised nationally for their ‘School of Sanctuary’ status, a prestigious accreditation; 

 

ff)    Building Plymouth had announced the ‘Adopt a School’ programmeconnecting local schools with industry and construction in the built environment sector. 14 secondary schools had been adopted by 14 building construction companies, with one company adopting a primary school; 

 

gg)  Mission Mammoth, a science, technology, engineering, arts and maths event took place at The Box in July 2025 and was in its fifth year; 

 

hh)This year resulted in 400 children taking part, with 11 schools and 85 construction volunteers from 30 construction employers. 10 staff from The Box and the Arts University supported during the course of the week. The help received totalled £68,000 worth of equivalent volunteer hours, over £38,000 worth of industry follow-up school visits, as well as £5,000 pounds worth of sponsorship.

 

(Councillor Cresswell presented a video to the Cabinet to show the event Mission Mammoth)

 

Councillor Aspinall (Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care) provided the following announcements: 

 

ii)    The Council had a public health assurance review, a statutory duty to provide public health services, funded by the ring fence public health grant. The Southwest of England had been chosen as a pilot in public health assurance process, overseen by the regional director of public health. The pilot had seen assurance visits carried out across the 14 local authorities of the Southwest, with the view to further national rollout; 

 

jj)    At the end of June, Plymouth City Council undertook their assurance visit, including the regional director of public health, our own director of public health, the Council Leader, Councillor Aspinall, the Chief Executive and the Director of Finance. The visit followed submission of extensive evidence to demonstrate that, public health funds were spent in accordance to the conditions of the grant, and all opportunities were taken to maximise the improvement of public health across the City; 

 

kk)A letter had been received by the Regional Director that Plymouth City Council had provided excellent evidence in compliance and assurance that we have the appropriate governance and processes in place for the spending of the public health grant. The Council had spent our money appropriately to health needs, and delivering the outcomes associated with that spend; 

 

ll)    An informal visit will be conducted in autumn 2025 for the Regional Director to view the excellent work of Plymouth City Council in improving the lives and wellbeing of its residents.