A message from Cllr Kevin Guy, Leader of Bath & North East Somerset CouncilLast night, we welcomed guests into the historic Old Post Office building to celebrate the launch of the Fashion Museum Foundation, our new charity dedicated to shaping the future of the museum. We heard from the Fashion Museum project team on the vision for the new museum, and were joined by our design partners, 6a Architects and JA Projects, who shared their exciting early concepts for reimagining a museum like no other. It was an honour to welcome award-winning designer and creative director Bianca Saunders (pictured) to the evening. Each year our Fashion Museum collection is kept up-to-date with the addition of the Dress of the Year - a standout outfit selected by an industry expert to capture the mood and trends of the past year in fashion. The winning outfits by Simone Rocha and Bianca Saunders were chosen by Caroline Rush CBE, Chief Executive of the British Fashion Council. Acknowledgement from designers and experts is testament to the museum’s importance within the industry. Promoting and supporting new fashion talent is an important part of our plans for the new museum, which in turn is at the heart of our vision for Bath as a vibrant fashion-focussed destination. Last Friday the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority approved our full business case for 11 proposed Liveable Neighbourhoods. These are the result of long-term ongoing engagement with residents and ward councillors to create environments where it is easier, safer, healthier, and more attractive to walk, wheel and cycle. It was welcome hear the views of residents at the meeting. We will continue to update you on further consultation and engagement as detailed designs progress on the schemes and you can also keep up-to-date by visiting our Liveable Neighbourhood webpages. Across Bath & North East Somerset there are more than 30,000 highway drainage gullies. Emptying and cleaning them is a part of an annual maintenance programme we carry out to keep routes running efficiently, and to prevent flooding. The system was put to the test at the start of the week when our area saw more rainfall than the monthly average. Between 6am on Sunday and 6am on Tuesday the Bath gauge recorded 69mm rain – the monthly average for September is 63mm. As a result our highways teams dealt with flooding reports where the system couldn’t cope with such unprecedented rainfall. I want to thank the teams for their round-the-clock response. Maintenance work the council undertook in Wellow prevented repeat property flooding as well as works along A4 Keynsham bypass which prevented flooding of the highway and the Rugby Football Club. You can check for floods on here https://www.gov.uk/check-flooding and report local issues on our website Finally, I want to highlight Bath Philharmonia which is celebrating 25 years with a special anniversary season starting on October. In addition to their world-class music Bath Philharmonia do amazing work enabling young carers to make and perform their own music Have a good weekend. | 
