This was an eight day week because my term as a councillor ended on Monday May 11. I:

• Objected to a licensing application from Mojos to extend their opening hours to 4am. This application comes just a few weeks after they successfully applied to remove the conditions on their licence to serve food and have a last entry time. They reassured the Licensing Committee that this wouldn’t cause issues because they were a sophisticated cocktail venue. This is one of their Tik Tok posts:

• Contacted the traffic team about their failure to inform residents about an event on the Quayside. There is, unfortunately, a pattern of ignoring residents’ interests when events are planned. People who live on the Quayside understand that it’s a public area and a popular place for events. That doesn’t have to mean that event organisers can routinely block their access and not even have to tell them in advance. The council should be protecting residents’ interests but it doesn’t. It’s another example of the council putting business interests first.
• Emailed the university and council staff involved with the Helix project , which is on the old Scottish and Newcastle brewery site, between Westgate Road and Barrack Road about the ongoing issues with the management of the site (the fencing is inadequate and blows down every time there are high winds; there is a lot of rubbish and fly-tipping; paths and landscaping have not been completed) and the failure to create any of the benefits to the community that were promised when the project, which has received millions of pounds in government and EU funding, started.
• Reminded the tree team about a neglected patch of trees off Sandyford Road. This could be an attractive area supporting biodiversity but is overgrown with ivy and full of rubbish.
• I also contacted residents I had been working with on individual issues.