Agenda item

The Leader presented the report to Cabinet.  The report was an update on the Council’s and its partner’s response to the Covid-19 crisis supporting the City (Residents and Businesses) to comply with the current restrictions and progress in the Council’s Strategic Recovery Aims. 

 

It was over a year since the UK first reported Covid-19 cases and eight weeks (20 December 2020) since Wales entered into the current Alert Level Four restrictions.

 

In this last year we saw the impact that Covid-19 had on our families, communities, businesses, schools and services delivered in the City. 

 

Sadly, we continued to see our loved ones taken from us due to Covid but we have also seen the resourcefulness and resilience of our communities to support our most vulnerable residents.

 

In our response and recovery from this crisis, we endorsed four Strategic Recovery Aims that ensures we respond to immediate and future needs of our communities and businesses.

 

·         Strategic Recovery Aim 1 – Supporting Education & Employment;

·         Strategic Recovery Aim 2 – Supporting the Environment and the Economy;

·         Strategic Recovery Aim 3 – Supporting the Health & Wellbeing of Citizens; and

·         Strategic Recovery Aim 4 – Supporting Citizens post Covid-19.

 

Since the implementation of the Alert Level Four restrictions in December, Newport and the wider southeast region saw a reduction in the case rate of Covid-19 cases. 

 

We understood the difficulty that these restrictions posed on our normal ways of life whether visiting close friends and family, children going to school, exercising in our local gyms or shopping in the City.

Without these restrictions, however, the Health service would have struggled and many more may have died or been affected by Covid and its new variants.   

 

The rollout of the vaccine by the NHS in Gwent and Wales was remarkable with over 600,000 people receiving their first dose in Wales.   

 

It was as important now than it was at the start of the current restrictions that we continued to follow the Welsh Government guidance to help the cases reduce further and ensure we can return back to normality.

 

The Leader went on to say that she was sure many families with young children were pleased to see the phased return of infant pupils back into school from today (22 February 2021). 

 

Since December, it was difficult for both Teachers and parents to support their children with home schooling and schools supporting children of key workers and the vulnerable.

 

It was important that we continued to support the City’s schools in returning back safely and help those children impacted by the restrictions to catch up and reduce any disadvantages over this last year.    

 

The economy in Newport and Wales was impacted significantly by the Covid restrictions. This last year was been extremely difficult for retailers and traders on the high street, small to medium sized business and the hospitality / entertainment sectors seeing many people lose their jobs. 

 

As highlighted in this report the Council and its partners (Newport Live) have been providing support to help those who have lost their jobs to re-train, find new work and gain new skills.

 

Also in the last couple of months, we launched the consultation (alongside Newport Live and Coleg Gwent) on the new Leisure and College development in the city centre; and received £8.75 million towards the Transporter Bridge Transformation project from the Heritage Lottery Fund.  

 

The report continued to highlight the ongoing work, challenges faced by services and achievements being delivered by Newport Council.

 

Comments from Cabinet Members:

 

Councillor Cockeram thanked the vaccination programme service manager appointed to oversee the work involved for Newport Centre, which was exceptional.

 

Councillor Harvey added that the stark reality of figures from Public Health Wales remembering those people in Wales who died; Lockdown was to protect people from this.  Councillor Harvey thanked residents for following the rules as well as carers and hospital workers who worked very hard.

 

Councillor Jeavons mentioned that Newport City Council staff were not Covid exempt, with some staff also shielding. Councillor Jeavons also mentioned the hard work of City Services staff, including the recent cold weather, with gritters out on the roads still continuing to maintain Newport roads.

 

Councillor Truman thanked environment health and trading standards officers under his portfolio, for their continued hard work.

 

Councillor Davies thanked staff for the preparation of these monthly reports and asked residents to read the reports which detailed what was being undertaken.  The history from the monthly reports were also a vital record of importance going forward.  Councillor Davies encouraged people from all communities as well as BAME communities to take up the vaccine.

 

Councillor Mayer thanked City Services for their hard work and Waste Savers who never stopped during the pandemic.  The Neighbourhood hubs also supported residents; Councillor Mayer thanked all those involved in providing this services.

 

Leader personally thanked the Chief Executive for the report and invited her to comment. 

 

The Chief Executive thanked the Leader and added that the worked carried out during the pandemic was a testament to the Senior Leadership Team and staff across the council.  The Chief Executive also added that we would not be in this position today without each and every individual member of staff who also showed their emotional resilience, especially as staff were not immune to Covid.  This was not business as usual and we might have to live with the virus for a very long time.  The Chief Executive thanked the Corporate Management Team, Finance colleagues as well as those involved in the Leisure Project and Transporter Bridge, adding her gratitude towards the Cabinet Members and all of the Heads of Service.

 

The Leader presented the report to Cabinet.  The report was an update on the Council’s and its partner’s response to the Covid-19 crisis supporting the City (Residents and Businesses) to comply with the current restrictions and progress in the Council’s Strategic Recovery Aims. 

 

It was over a year since the UK first reported Covid-19 cases and eight weeks (20 December 2020) since Wales entered into the current Alert Level Four restrictions.

 

In this last year we saw the impact that Covid-19 had on our families, communities, businesses, schools and services delivered in the City. 

 

Sadly, we continued to see our loved ones taken from us due to Covid but we have also seen the resourcefulness and resilience of our communities to support our most vulnerable residents.

 

In our response and recovery from this crisis, we endorsed four Strategic Recovery Aims that ensures we respond to immediate and future needs of our communities and businesses.

 

·         Strategic Recovery Aim 1 – Supporting Education & Employment;

·         Strategic Recovery Aim 2 – Supporting the Environment and the Economy;

·         Strategic Recovery Aim 3 – Supporting the Health & Wellbeing of Citizens; and

·         Strategic Recovery Aim 4 – Supporting Citizens post Covid-19.

 

Since the implementation of the Alert Level Four restrictions in December, Newport and the wider south east region saw a reduction in the case rate of Covid-19 cases. 

 

We understood the difficulty that these restrictions posed on our normal ways of life whether visiting close friends and family, children going to school, exercising in our local gyms or shopping in the City.

Without these restrictions, however, the Health service would have struggled and many more may have died or been affected by Covid and its new variants.   

 

The rollout of the vaccine by the NHS in Gwent and Wales was remarkable with over 600,000 people receiving their first dose in Wales.   

 

It was as important now than it was at the start of the current restrictions that we continued to follow the Welsh Government guidance to help the cases reduce further and ensure we can return back to normality.

 

The Leader went on to say that she was sure many families with young children were pleased to see the phased return of infant pupils back into school from today (22 February 2021). 

 

Since December, it was difficult for both Teachers and parents to support their children with home schooling and schools supporting children of key workers and the vulnerable.

 

It was important that we continued to support the City’s schools in returning back safely and help those children impacted by the restrictions to catch up and reduce any disadvantages over this last year.    

 

The economy in Newport and Wales was impacted significantly by the Covid restrictions. This last year was been extremely difficult for retailers and traders on the high street, small to medium sized business and the hospitality / entertainment sectors seeing many people lose their jobs. 

 

As highlighted in this report the Council and its partners (Newport Live) have been providing support to help those who have lost their jobs to re-train, find new work and gain new skills.

 

Also in the last couple of months we launched the consultation (alongside Newport Live and Coleg Gwent) on the new Leisure and College development in the city centre; and received £8.75 million towards the Transporter Bridge Transformation project from the Heritage Lottery Fund.  

 

The report continued to highlight the ongoing work, challenges faced by services and achievements being delivered by Newport Council.

 

Comments from Cabinet Members:

 

Councillor Cockeram thanked the vaccination programme service manager appointed to oversee the work involved for Newport Centre, which was exceptional.

 

Councillor Harvey added that the stark reality of figures from Public Health Wales remembering those people in Wales who died; Lockdown was to protect people from this.  Councillor Harvey thanked residents for following the rules as well as carers and hospital workers who worked very hard.

 

Councillor Jeavons mentioned that Newport City Council staff were not Covid exempt, with some staff also shielding. Councillor Jeavons also mentioned the hard work of City Services staff, including the recent cold weather, with gritters out on the roads still continuing to maintain Newport roads.

 

Councillor Truman thanked environment health and trading standards officers under his portfolio, for their continued hard work.

 

Councillor Davies thanked staff for the preparation of these monthly reports and asked residents to read the reports which detailed what was being undertaken.  The history from the monthly reports were also a vital record of importance going forward.  Councillor Davies encouraged people from all communities as well as BAME communities to take up the vaccine.

 

Councillor Mayer thanked City Services for their hard work and Waste Savers who never stopped during the pandemic.  The Neighbourhood hubs also supported residents; Councillor Mayer thanked all those involved in providing this services.

 

Leader personally thanked the Chief Executive for the report and invited her to comment. 

 

The Chief Executive thanked the Leader and added that the worked carried out during the pandemic was a testament to the Senior Leadership Team and staff across the council.  The Chief Executive also added that we would not be in this position today without each and every individual member of staff who also showed their emotional resilience, especially as staff were not immune to Covid.  This was not business as usual and we might have to live with the virus for a very long time.  The Chief Executive thanked the Corporate Management Team, Finance colleagues as well as those involved in the Leisure Project and Transporter Bridgem, addiding her gratitude towards the Cabiet Members and all of the Heads of Service.

 

Resolved:

Cabinet considered the contents of the report and noted the progress being made to date and the risks that were still faced by the Council.