Busy week ahead as we prepare for fresh opportunities in the new Council Year.

This evening will see the Annual Council meeting in the Council Chamber. This is the meeting which sees the investiture of the new Mayor for 2016/17 Cllr Kath Phillips. We wish her well as she begins what will be a very interesting twelve months not only with her ceremonial appointments but also as Chair of the Council at a time of change with the control of the council on a knife edge.

This evening’s meeting will also see tributes to the outgoing Mayor Cllr Angela Underhill who has proven very popular with all those groups and individuals see has met over her 12 months in office. See’s going to be hard act to follow, but I have no doubt that Kath will be up for the challenge.

Once the formalities our out of the way then the Council adjourns till 6.00pm Wednesday for the big event of the week, the establishment of the Administration following the elections on 5th May which saw Labour gain 1 seat taking them to 28 with the Tories remaining static at 25. UKIP failed to make any headway and remain on 3 which the Lib Dems successfully defended both their seats and remain on 2. The Independents lost one and went down to 2.

Since the elections a deal has been hammered out between Labour and the Lib Dems which with the Mayor’s casting vote will see the borough’s first ever Lib/Lab Coalition. Wednesday will be interesting to say the least.

In the meantime it’s business as usual for the Lib Dems at patch level with meetings taking place today and Wednesday between National Express West Midlands (NXWM) and Centro to see what progress has been made in getting NXWM to re-think its proposed review of the 28,40,41 and 69 routes through the Willenhall area.

Thursday sees the Lib Dem team in Willenhall in discussions with Walsall Housing Group (WHG) over a number of issues raised by tenants in recent weeks.