Agenda item

Covid-19 Gloucester City Recovery Plan

To consider the report of the Corporate Director which seeks to introduce the Council’s approach to recovery planning as a consequence of the Covid-19 Pandemic, agree a process for further scrutiny of the recovery planning process and make any recommendations to Cabinet.

 

 

Minutes:

9.1       The Corporate Director introduced the report and highlighted key elements. He brought Members’ attention to the eight workstreams which were bring developed and implemented as part of the Council ‘s approach to recovery planning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lastly, he outlined the four Rs around which recovery planning would be based: Return, Retain, Resist, Reimagine.

 

9.2      The Chair thanked the Corporate Director noting that it was good to have an overview of the plans. The Chair then invited questions from Committee Members.

 

9.3      Councillor Stephens stated that he welcomed the report which he believed was comprehensive, and set out a feasible way forward. He then emphasised the need for a cross-party approach in the recovery planning work across the different streams. He noted that there was already cross-party work taking place in relation to Economic Recovery & Growth through the Economic Recovery & Growth Task Force, and through the Recovery Board in relation to the Visitors and Cultural Recovery. Furthermore, he also noted that there would be cross-party work taking place in relation to Housing Recovery, and hoped this could be replicated across the other workstreams. He added that the way people lived had been fundamentally changed as a result of COVID-19, and it was likely that some business would not survive. This would need a reimagining of what the City Centre retail offer looks like. Moreover, Councillor Stephens was keen to see a change in social housing provision and was pleased to see that there were plans for individual transition plans for people currently in temporary accommodation. However, he stated that it would be important to look at the supply side of the debate and increase the amount of temporary housing and houses available for social rent. Finally, he outlined that although the pandemic had been a disaster for the country, it also provided an opportunity to do things differently, for example, with regard to the economy, the delivery of services and the environment.

 

9.4      Councillor Wilson noted that Aspire Trust would be on the Recovery Board for the Visitor and Culture Recovery, and sought confirmation that the Aspire Trust, and more generally, sports and wellbeing would all be key considerations in recovery planning. The Corporate Director reassured him that Aspire Trust and Active Gloucestershire would be an important part of recovery planning.

 

9.5      Councillor Haigh was of the view that whilst the report covered a great deal, it would benefit from having statements on what vision of the City the plan would implement. The Leader of the Councillor advised that the Council Plan which was being considered at this meeting should cover any blanks. Through the City Plan, Officers and Cabinet had identified areas where the vision of the City could be implemented. Moreover, the proposed City Centre Commission would help with developing the vision going forward.

 

9.6      Councillor Ryall stated that she welcomed the report and the idea of approach recovery planning around the “four Rs”. Nevertheless, she also suggested that Resilience could be added as a fifth “R” to recognise the need for resilience to be built into the recovery planning and to prepare for the possibility of future waves of the Coronavirus. The Corporate Director responded to say that he would be happy to add Resilience as a fifth “R”.

 

9.7      Councillor Pullen submitted that he also welcomed the report, but he had concerns that “Resist” (one of the four Rs) could lead to changes to front facing public services. If this was going to be the case, it was important that the Council first consulted with Service Users. Secondly, if any services were going to be stopped, it was important that the Council communicated with the public the rationale for stopping that service.

 

9.8      The Corporate Director agreed that this was an important consideration, however, it was unlikely that any services would be stopped completely. Rather, if there were to be any changes, it would be to how those services are delivered. He then provided an example of how this was already being done with Customer Services.

 

9.9    Councillor Hilton echoed Councillor Stephens’ comment earlier on the importance of cross-party work during recovery planning especially given that the current Council was on “borrowed time” and only had a year before the delayed local elections next year. Councillor Hilton also supported Councillor Ryall ‘s proposal for a fifth “R”. 

 

9.10    The Chair agreed that cross-party work was crucial in the recovery planning. They noted that scrutiny at Gloucester City Council was successful and recognised both regionally and nationally because of the cross-party approach taken. Additionally, they outlined that the Committee would be considering the different workstreams in more depth over the coming weeks. The Corporate Director added that Members would continue to be updated through the Coronavirus Members’ Updates as well. The Chair encouraged Committee Members to use the Members’ Intranet to access the Coronavirus Members’ Updates.

 

9.11    The Leader of the Council closed the discussion stating that cross-party work would be a feature of recovery planning as it already was in other areas. He added that the administration did not have the monopoly on ideas, and always welcomed ideas from the Labour and Liberal Democrats Groups.

 

9.12    RESOLVED: - that the Overview & Scrutiny Committee NOTE the report.

 

 

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