New Cabinet Confirmed for South Tyneside
A new Cabinet has been announced to steer South Tyneside Council through the next municipal year.
The Leader of the Council, Councillor Tracey Dixon, has confirmed eight Lead Member positions in addition to her own role, each aligned to areas that have been identified as being important to both residents and businesses and support the Borough's 20-year Vision to enable people to live happy, healthy and fulfilled lives.
The new Deputy Leader of the Council is Councillor Jane Carter who also takes on the portfolio of Governance, Finance and Corporate Services. Joining the Leader and Deputy Leader are:
- Adults, Health and Independence - Cllr Ruth Berkley
- Children and Families Social Care & Education and Skills - Cllr Liz McHugh
- Culture, Leisure & the Visitor Economy - Cllr Judith Taylor
- Economic Growth and Transport - Cllr Margaret Meling
- Housing and Community Safety - Cllr Jim Foreman
- Neighbourhoods and Climate Change - Cllr Ernest Gibson
- Voluntary Sector, Partnerships and Equalities - Cllr Paul Dean
Cllr Tracey Dixon, Leader of South Tyneside Council said: "Every year brings new challenges in local government and last year was no exception. The people of the borough are our key priority, and we continue to work hard to ensure we deliver the best possible services for them.
"As we look ahead to the new municipal year, we have much to be excited about. We are showing steady progress in Children's services. Investment in our children's care homes will also help to expand local provision and reduce very costly out of borough placements with a contractor for our new Children's Homes developments due to be announced in the coming months.
"Investment in adult social care accommodation and better use of assisted technologies will help support people to live independently at home.
"We continue to assist lower income families through a significantly revamped council tax reduction scheme and our Welfare Support team has supported people through the cost-of-living crisis securing more than £8.5 million in the 23/24 financial year, a £2million increase on the previous year.
"We are ambitious and committed to sustaining our current capital programme including town centre masterplans, district energy schemes, the relocation of South Tyneside College and development of Holborn riverside. The majority of capital projects have external funding secured to support them like the £20m Levelling Up funding for South Shields Riverside, £20m for Jarrow as part of the Towns Fund and £20m awarded to South Tyneside as a Levelling Up partnership area. Tactical investment will be used to leverage other external funding streams.
"We have already committed to retaining our street cleansing and road maintenance budgets despite ongoing pressures and we've invested in our CCTV operations room to support tackling Anti-Social Behaviour in partnership with the police.
"We will still deliver our packed events programme that South Tyneside is famous for, bringing millions of people to the area and boosting our visitor economy.
"All of these things, and more will help us deliver on our ambitions to keeping people well and healthy throughout their lives, financially secure, connected to jobs, skills and learning, being part of strong communities and targeting support to make things fairer."
Member Champions were also confirmed, elected members who act as an advocate for a specific area of the Council's business, supporting Cabinet Members in their role. The main responsibility of each member champion is to encourage communication and positive action over the issue they represent. These are as follows for 2024/2025:
- Democracy and Equality, Inclusion, Diversity and LGBTQ+ - Cllr Shane Smith
- Domestic Violence - Cllr Angela Lamonte
- Town Centres and the Villages - Cllr Joyce Welsh
- Youth Engagement, Skills and Sport - Cllr Stephen Dean.
Cllr Fay Cunningham was confirmed as the Mayor of South Tyneside for the municipal year 2024/25 supported by Stella Matthewson as her Mayoress.