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To

Subject

1

Councillor

Andrea

Loveridge

Councillor Mrs Maddi

Bridgeman

As restrictions are being lifted on Thursday, could an update be given on whether staff at Chelson Meadow can assist the general public with heavy bulky waste?

Response: Members of staff at Chelson Meadow had helped members of the public that were struggling to dispose of their bulky waste at the facility.  A risk assessment was currently being undertaken and an email would be sent to Councillor Loveridge providing an update.

2

Councillor

Pat Patel

Councillor Mark Deacon

What plans do the Council have going forward to return to a full library service from next year?

Response:  The Customer Service Team had been asked how much it would cost to restore the libraries to their full opening hours. It would cost £457k to restore the library opening hours. Efficiency savings would need to be made in the future, as had been done in previous years.  The continued restrictions that Covid had placed upon the service had been awful and that was why the library service had not fully opened.

Due to social distancing, only a proportion of personal computers could be open.  Meeting rooms could not be opened due to the lack of ventilation. The library staff had reconfigured the layout of the libraries.  Customers were encouraged not to stay too long due to the Covid rules.  Covid grants had been received from the Government.

At the start of Councillor Deacon’s tenure, he had been asked to protect the library service which had been done whilst struggling with the lack of resources that had been inherited and the continuing demands that Covid brought.  However, despite this, the opening hours of the Southway Library had increased.

Supplementary: exactly when did Councillor Deacon envisage a progression to a return to a fuller library service and the reinstatement of such things as holiday activity clubs, story-telling and job clubs?

Supplementary response: It was clear that libraries all over the country were in a state of flux and libraries in Plymouth were no different.  There were not many cities of Plymouth’s size that had 11 libraries located throughout the city and the suburbs. Most councils had drastically cut back on their library services.  They had also combined them with different Council services to make their customer services more efficient, responsive to customer needs and environmentally greener. This was something that Councillor Deacon was keen to bring to Plymouth but this had been delayed.

In future the way the Council operated its library model may have to be looked at. After this had been done, Councillor Deacon envisaged a library model that would be different but more comprehensive offering holiday clubs, story-telling and memory cafes.  Libraries would open after March 2022.

3

Councillor

Glen Jordan

Councillor

Jonathan

Drean

A number of taxi drivers had contacted Councillor Jordan raising concerns at the number of cars that were parked in taxi ranks. Could an explanation be given as to what was going on and what the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34