(a)

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

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The Hatchling -

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on Sunday 29 August, the people of Plymouth were joined by visitors from across the country to watch The Hatchling take flight from the coast and soar across the sea in a powerful symbol of hope;

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in a world first, the giant dragon puppet transformed into a kite, flew into the air and across Plymouth Sound, with an audience on tens of thousands on the Hoe and along the coast watching in awe;

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as part of the Mayflower 400 programme, The Hatchling was an outdoor theatrical performance that started on Saturday morning in the city centre and continued through until the unforgettable finale on Sunday night; 

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it had been supported by Plymouth City Council, Arts Council England and Mayflower 400; this was a poignant reminder of the power of community, with over 250 participating community groups and volunteers; it demonstrated both creativity and also the unique outdoor venue of the City;

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it had been watched by an audience of tens of thousands and with media coverage of over six million, this was a world first, as the giant puppet transformed into a kite and flew;

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footfall in the city centre on Saturday was up 20% on the previous week, whilst The Hatchling, West End Carnival and Motor Heads were in that area; The Hatchling would next been see in 2022 in London, heading the procession of Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant; truly stand out events like this engaged the City’s communities, demonstrated the vibrancy and culture of the City and showcased Plymouth far and wide;

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the British Fireworks Championships -

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thousands also gathered on the Hoe and across the Plymouth Sound waterfront for the spectacular British Fireworks Championships in August 2021 but with a difference from all the previous years;

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this year, the firework displays were dedicated to the victims of the tragic events in Keyham last month; a special tribute took place on each evening of the Championships which included a one minute’s silence where attendees beamed their phone torches into the sky, filling the waterfront with light; this was followed by a display of five heart-shaped fireworks to signify each life lost and a minute long round of applause in memory of the victims; five green hearts were also projected onto Smeaton’s Tower during the event;

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after a two-year absence due to Coronavirus, it was fantastic to be able to host the Championships again which brought joy to local communities and welcoming visitors back to Plymouth;

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these events, followed on from the success of Sail GP which brought together and showed off the City at its best; the Council’s events team have had a remarkably difficult year and should be congratulated in achieving these amazing but complicated events working with different partners;

(a video of The Hatchling was shown at this meeting)

(b)

Councillor Jonathan Drean (Cabinet Member for Transport) made the following announcements -

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the public consultation had opened for the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) which was available on the Council’s website; however hard copies of the plan would be made available on request;

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work was being undertaken on the introduction of a Traffic Regulation Order at Devil’s Point car park to restrict parking to a maximum of three hours;  a lot of complaints had been received regarding people not being able to park in this car park;

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the Jennycliff car park was due to be re-surfaced from 13 September 2021 (for five days); it was however hoped that the works would be completed earlier;

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utility works were taking place in the City which included works on the waste pipe to prevent flooding on Saltash Road and works on Stonehouse Bridge;

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the Ashford Hill bridge was now open to pedestrians and it was anticipated that it would be open to vehicles on Wednesday 8 September 2021; there had been a significant amount of work undertaken, in order to open the bridge in such a short time scale; following a conference call with Network Rail, it had been confirmed that the last time the bridge had been struck was in 2016;

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he had attended a meeting to look at the feasibility of using alternative road surface dressings to maximise the highways infrastructure, mainly in residential areas,  such as fog seals and warm mix asphalt;

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approval had been gained for the Smart Cities Urban Traffic Control scheme (UTC); this scheme formed part of the Department for Transport’s Transforming Cities Fund; work would be undertaken in conjunction with MOVA technology (Microprocessor Optimised Vehicle Actuation) which would increase traffic flow through the artillery routes of the City by 15%;

(c)

Councillor Mrs Pengelly (Cabinet Member for Homes and Communities) made the following announcements -

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Equality in Sport Programme (part of the Administration’s commitment to ensure Plymouth was a Welcoming City) -

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a new Equalities Working Group had been set up by the Council earlier in the year which fed directly into Cabinet; this ensured that discrimination was tackled in the City and inequality was reduced; it emphasised the fact that Plymouth was a City that welcomed and respected all members of the community and did not tolerate racism or discrimination of any kind;

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following the Euro 2020 final, where three of the England players became victims of atrocious racism following the match, the Equalities Working Group had been tasked to consider a programme of work that aimed to address the issue of racism and discrimination in all sport in Plymouth;

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at its inaugural meeting on 3 September 2021, the Equalities Working Group, heard from Plymouth  Argyle’s inclusion league about the Club’s work to promote inclusion and to confront and eliminate discrimination;

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over the past few years, the Football Club had stepped up its  efforts to  promote  equality in  the  sport;    this work

included recruiting and inclusion needs, putting in place the Club’s own equality, diversity and inclusion working group which was tasked with the strategic management of the equality, diversity and inclusion programme within the Club, sets the agenda, oversees its implementation and monitors progress on a regular basis; the Group ensured that equality and diversity principles were fully embedded in the Club, so that it could be held up as an exemplary organisation due to its practices; the Club had embedded a number of policies and procedures to ensure  fair recruitment policies, staff training and reporting incidents and dealing with them; the Club was committed to promoting equality and combating discrimination as part of the Football League’s code of practice and were active members of national campaigns such as ‘show racism the red card’ and ‘kick it out’;

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there were over 1000 sporting organisations, clubs and venues in Plymouth which all had their own equality and inclusion policies and practices which were aligned with their national governing bodies;

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the intention of the Council was to hold an equality and inclusion conference in Plymouth and invite all clubs to attend; campaign to have a sports charter that all clubs could sign up to and have branding which once the clubs had signed up to the campaign, a logo would be provided;

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Plymouth Argyle would be giving away 600 free tickets for a Home Park game to NHS workers, to say ‘thank you’ for what they had done for the City and to also dedicate the match to the NHS;

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with regard to the Afghanistan refugees, the Council was currently progressing with two, four bed apartments to assess their suitability; if these were sent to the Home Office and approved, one of the apartments would be ring-fenced for the family (which had been directly referred to Plymouth by the Home Office); two new offers had been received, although there were concerns regarding anti-social behaviour and the location; the Council was working hard with its partners, Housing Associations and private landlords;

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she had attended a conference with the Minister for Housing, Communities and Local Government; the Government had announced that it had allocated £203m to the Rough Sleeper Initiative fund, to provide local support for those living on the streets; the Minister had advised that he would like every local authority to take five rough sleepers off the street and into accommodation and provide wrap around support;

(d)

Councillor Nicholson (Deputy Leader) made the following announcements -

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Build Back Better: Health and Social Care Plan -

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he cautiously welcomed the proposals set out by the Prime Minister in his announcement today regarding the Government’s plan for adult social care;  the proposals would result in additional funding for the service of approximately £5.4b;

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whilst the detail of these proposals would be subject to much discussion, it was important to acknowledge that the current Government was addressing a difficult and longstanding issue that had been underfunded for many years and had brought the service close to breaking point; this had been seen in the City and had also been exacerbated by the pressures of Covid;

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he welcomed the publishing of the Government’s White Paper in the Autumn and considered that the Government should be congratulated on moving this issue forward;

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on 8 September 2021, it was anticipated that the Government would publish its responses to its Planning Reforms; there had been a mixed reaction to the proposals and it was hoped that there would be another opportunity for briefings on the announcement; Plymouth was in a good position, as it had an up to date Joint Local Plan which was the policy framework used to determine development opportunities in the City, South Hams and West Devon;

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the Cabinet had given a commitment to plant 2,021 trees in 2021; it was anticipated that the approval of a programme of works would allow work to commence in October 2021; the initial tree requests received from Ward Councillors would be planted between October and December 2021; the remainder of the trees would be planted by the end of March 2022 (which was well ahead of last year’s planting programme); all trees had now been reserved;

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following the approval of the play area improvement programme, this work was progressing well and a tendering exercise was being undertaken which would be completed in October 2021; consultations with Ward Councillors were ongoing, in order to identify improvements across the City;

(e)

Councillor Bridgeman (Cabinet Member for Environment and Street Scene) made the following announcements -

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the service continued to manage the shortage of staff due to the ‘pingdemic’, sickness and a shortage of drivers, unlike many other local authorities, the Council continued to operate the garden waste collection service, albeit with some delays; the service continued to pick up 99% of bins on time;

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the bulky waste collection was due to recommence in October 2021; a new database would be available from mid-September 2021;

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the good weather had helped to commence the grass cutting catch-up work; there may be a delay with some of the bailing which was as a result of driver shortages;

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she to this opportunity to give a ‘big shout out’ to the  cleansing staff, who had done a great job in ensuring that the city centre and waterfront were cleaned up following the many events that had taken place on the Hoe and the surrounding areas.