·          

Thanked Dave Walsh for his long service to the Council. Dave retired in September following 43 years and 3 months of service.

·          

Thanked Dave Milford who had also retired following 32 years of service with the Plymouth RNLI.

·          

Julian Mouland had won the Lifetime Champion Award at the Safeguarding Adults Board Excellence Awards.

·          

Plymouth City Council had won Local Authority of the Year award at the 2021 Municipal Journal awards.

a)     

Plymouth City Council had been working alongside other agencies in Recovery efforts across Keyham and more broadly across Plymouth. In the immediate aftermath of the shootings, partners from across all agencies had come together with Plymouth City Council, the OPCC and the Police to provide immediate support to all affected and start the long-term work to rebuild confidence of the community and its capacity to recover from this tragedy.

Collective efforts continued to focus on supporting the local community and ensuring that partners had been able to maximise services and opportunities for the Keyham community and asset victims’ families to recover from the violence and tragedy.

Community policing had been providing a visible neighbourhood presence to provide community reassurance.

Safer Keyham had been restoring a feeling of safety through physical prevention measures such as improved CCTV.

Victims support had been commissioning services to provide additional services to support the victims and witnesses and ensure that they received the specialised support required to recover.

b)     

Councillor Nick Kelly updated members of the media reach that The Box had garnered since Songlines.

The campaign had generated over 150 pieces of coverage to date and it is estimated that there had been an audience reach of 28 million people which would have an advertising value equivalent of £1.5 million. 

Plymouth had coverage in the US, Canada, Australia and Spain and had been extensively covered on the BBC including the BBC2 Culture show and BBC Radio 4 Front Row.

c)     

Plymouth had been awarded £1.2 million for two projects as part of the Creative Development Fund which was one of the biggest allocations in the UK. The National Marine Park had been awarded £655,000 to support businesses to make the journey to net zero. Stonehouse Union had been awarded £542,000 to bring the millennium back to life.

d)     

Plymouth City Council had secured a major new inward investment from Marks and Spencer on the Council’s land on the former Seaton Barracks site. The new Marks and Spencer foods store would be double the size of the existing store. A new Aldi, café and gym had also been secured. The scheme had been open for public consultation. It was hoped that the new centre would create 100 new jobs and 120 construction jobs.

e)     

Good progress has been made on the new £35 million health hub in the City Centre working with the CCG and NHS England. Good response had been received from the public consultation and the scheme would move forward to Planning. 

a)     

Plymouth City Council had been trialling artificial intelligence to supplement the Highways Safety Inspections, this would help identify defective road surfacing, deteriorated road markings, footway and road signage conditions.

b)     

Three new road crossings had been constructed across the city at Furzahatt Road, Larkham Lane and Miller Way. 17 sites near Plymouth schools would receive a safety signage upgrade which would include specialist signs with high intensity amber warning lights.

c)     

The trials for Vehicle Free schools was proving successful.

d)     

Plymouth City Council highways continued working with Devon County Council to enable a Carbon Footprint Calculation for Highways Activities which would feed into the Corporate carbon reduction plan. 

e)     

13,000 tonnes of salt had been stocked in readiness for adverse weather conditions with six gritters on standby. 

f)      

Footbridges across the city had been refurbished with two of them being fully completed at Station Road Cottles and Providence, a further 6 were near completion, with the remaining 12 being completed next year.

g)     

Subways across the city were being refurbished and the subways at Glen Road and North Cross had been completed. The Highways team had been working on the subways at Crownhill and work included concrete repairs, vegetation clearance, drainage works, resurfacing and repainting.

h)     

Maintenance work had been planned on culverts which were done on a quarterly and 6 monthly basis which included vegetation clearance, jet washing and fixing timber fences.

i)      

Investigatory surveys had been completed for Laira Bridge and works planned included masonry repairs and the installation of stainless steel wall ties to prevent further deterioration.

j)      

Principle inspection of all HMPE tunnels within the city had been conducted. 

k)     

The Highways team had also been working on the stabilisation of the George Lane hedge bank and rock/soil nails and galvanised mesh had been installed.

a)     

A trial of alternative thermal foam weed treatment had been scheduled for January which would help inform the council’s plan on reducing chemical treatments on Plymouths streets in future years.

b)     

Despite some disruption to garden waste collection, there had been a 44% increase in tonnage collected which was equivalent to 7,000 tonnes. Recycling rates had increased in quarter 1 and 2 which was an increase in previous years.

a)     

On the 25^th November the Taxi Licensing Policy would be issued for a 12 week public consultation and members as well as Plymouth residents were encouraged to take part in the consultation. 

a)     

At the 2021 Abercrombie Awards Primrose Park in Whitleigh had won best new development which had been developed in partnership with Plymouth Community Homes.

b)     

Plymouth City Council had also won the judges special award for the recladding of the Devonport towers which was supported by officers in Community Connections and Strategic Planning.

c)     

Pilgrim Court in How street had won the best small development award. This scheme transformed a derelict site in partnership with BCHA and had created 12 one bedroom flats for adults with complex and varied disability needs including four wheelchair adaptable units.

a)     

Library opening times had been increased by 18 hours in total for the week. Libraries at Crownhill and Southway had been opened for an additional day.

Library activities had been restarted where it had been safe to do so, children’s activities including rhyme times and story times had recommenced. Book groups for vulnerable adults had also recommenced.

b)     

25,000 people had attended the annual bonfire event. The event had originally been created due to poor community safety due to backyard firework displays. It was also one of the busiest times of the year for the fire and ambulance services. Plymouth City Council had heard from its residents with regard to carbon emissions and would be looking at ways to reduce this.

c)     

British Elite Junior Diving Championship had been the first major event held at the Life Centre since its refurbishment work and had been a great success.

d)     

5,000 people had attended the Christmas light switch on event in the City Centre, the event had been dedicated to NHS.