(a)

Councillor Pete Smith (Deputy Leader) made the following announcements:

·        

the application for funding to the national leisure recovery fund had been approved – the grant oversight committee agreed to award Plymouth £543,000 of the fund;

·        

the Life Centre’s gym and new changing rooms would be available from 12 April with the 50m pool and leisure pool opening at the end of April. Other facilities and activities would also begin to re-open in accordance with the Governments roadmap. Work on the diving pool was expected in June;

·        

other leisure facilities would be open in-line with the Government’s guidance with the athletics track and all weather pitch from 29 March and indoor facilities at Brickfields and Plympton Swimming Pool from 12 April;

·        

outdoor pools at Tinside and Mount Wise would be open to the public from 1 May, this was a month earlier than usual;

·        

work had continued to finish the Mayflower 400 capital projects including the heritage trails, and the Elizabethan House; some trails had been completed digitally and were available on the Plymouth Trails App; over 4000 users had registered to date;

·        

despite Covid 19 the events team worked hard to secure several events: the world’s fastest sailing event, Sail GP was taking place in July and would bring approximately £20m into the economy, over 30,000 took part in virtual VE day celebration and the circus came to central park. The Council was committed to bringing back a full events programme this summer;

·        

a free to attend live outdoor performance of The Hatchling had been confirmed as part of the Mayflower 400 celebrations whereby a giant puppet of a dragon would roam the streets and take flight;

·        

Libraries – the council had been awarded funding from reading agency to deliver reading friends – they were linked up with Age UK to deliver this project;

(b)

Councillor Kate Taylor (Cabinet Member for Heath and Adult Social Care), made the following announcements:

·        

thousands more people had been added to the clinically extremely vulnerable list; the Caring for Plymouth team had contacted all of those people to provide information and support;

·        

there had been a change in care home visiting regulations – residents in care homes were now able to have an additional visitor; this would make a huge difference to residents and their families;

·        

with regards to care homes in the city – 9 older people care homes, 2 under 65 care homes, 1 supported living setting and 1 extra living facility were coming towards the end of their 28 day outbreak period; the Council would continue to offer support to care providers;

·        

she offered her thanks and that of Cabinet, to the teams across the city and the council and public health that were working together to keep the city’s most vulnerable people safe;

(c)

Councillor Sue Dann (Cabinet Member for Environment and Street Scene) made the following announcements:

·        

work had started to cleanse the A38 – this was having to be done  at night. Even though in lockdown the amount of traffic was too great so it couldn’t be done in the day. The safety of staff was paramount;

·        

Councillor Lowry said for every new direct debit we got for council tax this year we would plant a tree – approximately £25,000 of money to be used in next year’s planting programme to plant trees;

·        

a short film was to show to highlight the Council’s green vision;

(d)

Councillor Sally Haydon (Cabinet Member for customer focus and community safety) made the following announcements:

·        

the Council’s customer services remained fully available throughout the pandemic online and in the contact centre;

·        

the public protection service were focused on protecting the  public from harm and worked with public health to manage the public health response;

·        

the environmental protection team had issed 175 fixed penalty notices per month for dropping litter and had done increased work on keeping dogs under control in parks and keeping parks clear of dog mess;

·        

bereavement services continued working through the pandemic in line with government guidelines; fewer people were able to attend services therefore the Council offered free webcasting of services;

·        

the new crematorium would create 2 flexible ceremony rooms with car parking, modern office facilities, installation of new equipment, reduced emissions and carbon footprint and make sure the capacity for new demand could be met;

(e)

Councillor Jon Taylor (Cabinet Member for Education, Transformation and Skills) made the following announcements:

·        

he offered his thanks to the education staff across the city and council officers as well as parents and children for engaging in testing and working to follow guidelines;

·        

the Winter Grant Scheme had been extended until 16 April so there would be additional funding to provide support over the Easter Holidays; vouchers would be provided. Aldi had been added to the scheme;

·        

the Government had made changes to the pupil premium scheme whereby they changed the date for calculating how many children were eligible. The cut off was moved to October which meant schools were denied the opportunity to include children who became eligible at the end of last year.