(a)

Councillor Deacon (Cabinet Member for Customer Services, Culture, and Leisure & Sport) made the following announcements:

·        

the community youth team had been busy re-engaging with young people after a period of limited engagement due to the pandemic – thanks to funding received from the Fit and Fed programme and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner activities had been provided for young people. 17 young people from across the city had participated in a range of activities across the city including surfing, visits to Dartmoor Zoo, the Plym Trail and mountain biking;

·        

the young carers team aimed to reach as many young carers through the summer programme – over 80 young carers had signed up; young carers were also working on a project in Honicknowle as well as a digital project whilst learning photography skills;

(b)

Councillor Mrs Maddi Bridgeman (Cabinet Member for Environment and Street Scene) made the following announcements:

·        

currently in the street scene department they were experiencing disruption to staffing levels, more so now than in the pandemic – front line services were affected by staff absence including disruption to garden estate, street cleaning and waste services. Disruption was specifically affecting garden waste services, however the council was following government guidance on how to prioritise waste collection services;

·        

in her capacity as Deputy Lord Mayor, and accompanied by the Lord Mayor, both Councillor Mrs Maddi Bridge and Councillor Mrs Beer had visited street services and delivered pasties and drinks to the crew as they worked tirelessly through the pandemic; she pleaded with the public for their patience as the teams were exhausted but continued to work hard;

·        

she had visited the Forder Valley Link Road site along with Councillor Drean and highlighted that 85% of people employed on site were from Plymouth. 78% of orders were linked to small and medium sized businesses and there were four graduates and apprentice internships; the project was still on target;

(c)

Councillor Mrs Vivien Pengelly (Cabinet Member for Homes and Communities) made the following announcement:

·        

Manifesto Commitment 29 highlighted the council’s desire to create innovative plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 and Manifesto Commitment 75 described how this was going to work with housing associations to create a wider range of homes;

·        

she had reviewed the whole Plan for Homes Programme and in light of the Manifesto Commitments the allocation of funding to deliver zero and low carbon homes was increasing 6-fold to £1.5 million;

·        

she would continue to work with officers to maximise external funding for low and zero carbon homes such as the £600,000 secured from the Land Release Fund to support the delivery of 70 low carbon homes at Kings Tamerton, in partnership with Plymouth Energy Community and Plymouth Community Homes;

·        

this funding was already part of the Capital Programme, but if we want to make a real change in reducing carbon emissions from housing, which was the second highest contributor to our carbon emissions as a city after transport, we must put realistic resources against our ambitions;

·        

shelooked forward to the commencement on site of our innovative Broadland Gardens scheme in my own ward, which will be the first housing direct delivery project by this Council in over 30 years. I will be working with Councillor Maddi Bridgeman to ensure that the 2022 Climate Emergency Action Plan contained ambitious actions on decarbonising housing and I will announce further sites where we see opportunities to deliver low carbon and zero carbon homes later in the year;

(d)

Councillor Jonathan Drean (Cabinet Member for Transport) made the following announcement:

·        

he was due to look at marine facilities with the parking unit shortly;

(e)

Councillor Patrick Nicholson (Deputy Leader) made the following announcement:

·        

case rate for covid stabilised at 420 per 100,000 in the last 7 day period, still considerably higher than the south west average of 320 and the England average of 290, but had reduced from the peak which was approximately two weeks ago;

·        

there were some positive signs in terms of hospitalisations, with rates beginning to fall both nationally and locally – though there were still around 40 people in Derriford with Covid, which did impact on the hospital considerably. Vaccinations were progressing well, with 83% of adults having had one dose and over two thirds now having had both doses;

·        

for anyone who hadn’t yet had their Covid-19 vaccination or was due their second jab could now get this from our mobile vaccine van located at Frankfort Gate every Thursday throughout August. No appointments are needed and it would be the Pfizer vaccine available;

·        

The key things that people needed to do was:

·       Have both your vaccinations, if you haven’t already

·       Continue to have a PCR test and self-isolate if you have symptoms

·       Remember that Covid19 rates are high, and to avoid the infection by:

o   Avoiding crowded indoor areas

o   Limit your close contacts

o   Meet outdoors where possible – or open a window if indoors

o   Take lateral flow tests regularly – twice a week

·        

the council was launching a new campaign to recruit more care home assistants. Home care or domiciliary care assistants were vital in supporting people to improve and maintain their independence and enabling them to continue living in their own homes. With a shortage of staff in this sector means there was extra pressure on hospital wards and care homes. Following the last campaign almost 300 people had been offered employment, however there was still a significant gap which was why we are launching this new dedicated campaign;

·        

the Love Exploring App was a new app which had features for everyone to enable them to explore Central Park during the summer holidays. There was a comprehensive map, games and quizzes to play whilst walking the trails of the park, as well as an events feature that would keep people up to date on all the exciting things going on in the park;

·        

dedicated urban rangers were being placed across Plymouth’s vast array of local nature reserves, who would work across and care for Council and National Trust sites in the city.