A message from Cllr Kevin Guy, Leader of Bath & North East Somerset CouncilTonight, the council’s cabinet meets following its break over August. Among the items on our agenda are reports on the progress we are making tackling the climate and nature emergency, our response to new Government housing targets, and our medium-term financial strategy – you can follow the meeting which starts at 6.30pm on the council’s Youtube channel. For councils up and down the country, housing, climate emergency and local government finances are key issues that were discussed at the Local Government Association (LGA) leaders meeting I attended yesterday. The LGA works on behalf of councils and gives us a strong voice with national government helping us to lobby ministers for the benefit of our residents on important issues. So it was a good opportunity yesterday to meet other leaders and Lord Porter, former vice chairman and chairman of the LGA (pictured) to highlight the great work we are doing in Bath & North East Somerset, the specific challenges our area faces and discuss councils’ joint working to get the attention of the new government as it starts to set out its framework for the future . One area that I am really pleased to see we are making continued improvement is the air quality across Bath & North East Somerset. This week we released two reports that show nitrogen dioxide concentrations are decreasing across B&NES which means we are all breathing cleaner air and having the impact on our health reduced. However, there is no clear evidence of a safe level of exposure to particulate matter or NO2, so we will continue to closely monitor air quality. You can find out more about The Bath Clean Air Zone (CAZ) Annual report 2023 and the B&NES 2024 Air Quality Annual Status Report on the council’s newsroom. Have a good weekend. | 
