Agenda item

Communications

To consider any communications to be submitted by the Mayor or the Chief Executive.

Minutes:

(a)       Archives Service

 

The Chief Executive was delighted to inform the Council that the Archives Service had received Accredited Status in a new scheme introduced by the National Archive.

 

Accreditation was the UK quality standard which recognised good performance in all areas of the archive service delivery.  Achieving accredited status was a huge achievement and demonstrated that Barnsley Archives had clearly met defined national standards relating to management and resourcing; the care of its unique collections and what the service offered to its entire range of users.

 

Receiving this recognition from the National Archives was a milestone for the Service and recognised all the hard work undertaken in recent years to make the collections more easily accessible to researchers.  Thousands more people were engaging with Barnsley’s rich heritage than ever before and this award was a reflection of the hard work and dedication of all the staff.

 

Paul Stebbing (Archives and Local Studies Officer) and David Blunden (Local Studies Librarian) were in the Chamber this morning and congratulations were expressed to all involved

 

Councillor Miller (Cabinet Spokesperson for Place) also expressed his congratulations on behalf of all Elected Members at the tremendous achievement of the Service in being accredited at the first attempt.  He was pleased to say that the assessors had been so impressed by the Archives Service in Barnsley that there was no need to apply for accreditation for a further 6 years. He wished to thank Paul Stebbing and David Blunden for their teamwork and dedication to the Service

 

The Mayor and Members of the Council expressed their congratulations and thanks to all concerned in the usual manner.

 

(b)       Dearne Valley Landscape Partnership Award

 

The Chief Executive reported that the Dearne Valley Landscape Partnership (DVLP) had received the Lynne Farrell Group Award for Biological Recording.  This National Award was presented by the National Biodiversity Network and was supported by the Field Studies Council.

 

The National Biodiversity Network was the UK’s largest partnership for nature, which had been championing the sharing of biological data since 2000.  To win this award against the very stiff competition and a great many entries was a real achievement both locally and nationally, helping to put the Dearne on the map.

 

The winning project had been led on behalf of the Dearne Valley Landscape Partnership by Community Officer by Roseanna Burton (Community Heritage Officer) working in partnership with local naturalist Derek Whiteley and volunteers and tutors of the Sorby Invertebrate Group as part of the Sorby Natural History Society.

 

This was another example of the brilliant work being undertaken in the Dearne Valley and Roseanna Burton and the DVLP Manager Richard King were in the Chamber this morning to accept the award.  Congratulations were offered to all those involved in this achievement.

 

Councillor Miller (Cabinet Spokesperson for Place) also expressed his congratulations on behalf of all Elected Members to the Team for this outstanding achievement.  The DVLP worked very closely with the volunteers and local organisations and this had helped them to achieve this award and make the Programme a success over the last two years.

 

The DVLP had trained and developed skills of over 420 residents in wildlife identification and surveying through 35 free training workshops.  As a result volunteers had contributed to an estimated 10,000 new biological records into the local records centre in the last 24 months.  He also wished to add his own congratulations to the Team and to volunteers for all their hard work and dedication.

 

The Mayor and Members of the Council expressed their congratulations and thanks to all involved in the usual manner.

 

(c)        Barnsley Market

 

The Chief Executive reported that Barnsley Market had received the National Award for Best Indoor Market in the country by the National Association of British Market Authorities which recognised the investment in the temporary markets as part of the Glass Works Project, partnership working with Barnsley College and the NHS and its Youth Market Programme.

 

The Markets Team had been praised for the work they had undertaken with traders to promote their businesses and was also recognised for their work over the last three years to enable the redevelopment of the Town Centre whilst keeping the market traders fully engaged in the process.

 

Ultimately, however, the reward was in recognition of the commitment of the traders to make the market a vibrant and welcoming place for its customers and Rose Dyson of Pura Cosmetics (who was currently studying for her A Levels whilst being a young entrepreneur) and Dave and Paul Wilson of Dave & Dave Fruit and Veg and Market Inspector Neil Hardcastle were welcomed into the Chamber this morning.  Congratulations were offered to all involved in this achievement.

 

Councillor Miller (Cabinet Spokesperson for Place) also expressed his congratulations on behalf of all Elected Members and especially to the Market Traders for all their hard work and dedication in what was a difficult period for them.  The Council was in the process of enabling the re-building of the Town Centre, a £130m project the centrepiece of which was the Market.  It was recognised that this was a difficult time but he was looking forward to 2020 when the new market would be operating.

 

Councillor W Johnson (Chair of Scrutiny) commented that it would be remiss of him not to comment on this award given that he was a market trader.  This had been a long journey for the Town Centre with a number of schemes being proposed over a number of years.  The current scheme which was now being developed was enabling fantastic results to be achieved.  To win such an award as this for a temporary market was not only a wonderful achievement but also set the bar extremely high for the development of the permanent market.  Seeing the presentation of the proposals last week, the projected look of the new Town Centre was tremendous.  The main issue, however, was that it was thetraders who made the market.  It was important that once the new market was open, the same ‘offer’ of stalls and services was available to the public who had loved this market over many years since 1249. He also expressed his congratulation to all involved.

 

The Mayor and Members of the Council expressed their congratulations and thanks to all involved in the usual manner.

 

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