(a)

all the recipients in the New Year’s Honours on the recognition of their services as follows – 

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paralympics gold medallist Jonathan Fox was awarded an MBE for services to swimming;

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Angela O’Brien (stage name of Angela Collins), chair of the City of Plymouth Theatre Company was awarded an MBE for services to drama in the south west;

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Julian Crow, First Great Western's regional manager, west was awarded an MBE for services to the rail industry;

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Monika Kinley was awarded an OBE, for services to the visual arts;

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Alan Smith, chairman and managing director of the Plymouth-based company Pipex, was awarded an MBE for services to the manufacturing industry;

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Lorraine Anne Tucker was awarded a British Empire Medal for voluntary service to the City of Plymouth Children Fund and to the community in Devon;

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Irene Alice Wills was awarded a British Empire Medal for services to the Pisces Swimming Club and to the community in Plymouth;

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David Rees, an operational analyst at CORDA Consulting was awarded a MBE for services to defence capability;

(b)

the Customer Services Team on their Customer Service Excellence Award; Govmetric Case Study in Excellence Award and the Business Health Network Platinum Award;

(c)

the Library Service on their Customer Service Excellence Award;

(d)

the Legal Services Land Charges Team who had been shortlisted by the National Land Information Service 2013 Excellence Awards for the best performing local land charges service in Great Britain. 

(a)

the City Deal: he thanked officers and partners who had worked hard across the region to develop the City Deal bid which would include the development and commercialisation of fledgling marine science businesses, the creation of a maritime technology production campus and an international investment and export pilot;

(b)

Plymouth Airport: the Chief Executive and the Leader had met with Simon Burns (Transport Minister).  He reiterated to Members that the position of the authority remained as stated in council on 24 September 2012.  At the meeting with the minister, he had also taken the opportunity to lobby for the addition of the city to the Strategic National Corridor Network; to seek support for more regular and shorter train services between the city and London and to work with the Department of Transport on assessing options and business cases for rail improvements;  

(c)

Rail infrastructure: he was seeking to meet with the rail minister (Patrick McCloughlin) on his response to the Leader’s letter highlighting the concerns of the city, neighbouring councils and partners on the Local Enterprise Partnership about the fragility of the national road and rail links and the disruption and impact of the recent adverse weather conditions on the local economy.  The purpose of the meeting would be to discuss the options for improvements and in the meantime he would continue to work with neighbouring authorities to identify the economic costs of rail line closures and to develop solutions;

(d)

City of Culture:  he updated the council on the bid being developed through and led by the city. He reported that the initial expression of interest would be submitted by the end of February 2013 followed by the initial stage bid by the end of April 2013. If the council was asked to progress a final bid, fully worked plans and ideas would be required by 30 September 2013;

(e)

English Heritage: the Chief Executive and the Leader had met with Baroness Andrews (the Chair of English Heritage) to discuss the city’s heritage and how English Heritage could help support the city’s bid for City of Culture.  They had invited Baroness Andrews to Plymouth to see some of the excellent work to regenerate historic areas.