Issue - meetings

Report to follow.

Madeline Homer introduced the report and said the following:

·  The fairly detailed report before the Panel highlighted TD’s response to the pandemic;

• When the national lockdown was put in place the council had already started working to provide support to local communities;
• Effective networks had been set up with third sector organisations. This had improved the council’s engagement with communities, including parish and town councils;
• The council would like to continue with this engagement approach.

Members made comments as follows:

• The work done by the Council in response to the covid pandemic had been brilliant;
• The level of vaccination take up by the vulnerable groups had been of concern nationwide;
• Some frontline working staff had struggled to get vaccinated especially those that fell into the young age groups;
• The CEx and her team worked very well with parish and town councils as regular conference calls were held to provide updates on how the council was managing the situation in the district. Margate although not a parish/town council was also invited into those update meetings;
• These meetings have been excellent;
• The helpline was very helpful;
• Members thanked the council staff for the work they did in response to the pandemic;
• The council stepped up to the plate on this significant challenge.

Members agreed that these compliments by councillors for the excellent work done by the council staff in response to the pandemic should be on record.

Thereafter the Panel took no further action and agreed to note the report.

Madeline Homer, CEx introduced the item and said that it 2020/21 had been a year like no other in terms of challenges for the public sector and that local government was no exception to that. Ms Homer then gave an overview of some of the achievements made by Thanet District Council as part of the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Ms Homer said that the Council was already dealing with the pandemic prior to the national lockdown at the end of March 2020. Prior to that, the council had already conducted the following:

• reviewed and refreshed our business continuity plans in light of coronavirus;
• provided capacity for home working including training sessions and crib sheets for access;
• provided staff with regular updates on the situation and included access to frequently asked questions;
• Established an officer group including all senior management who met regularly to review the situation and what may be required by us.

The CEx said that when the national lockdown was introduced; whilst for most industries this meant reduced work; for TDC it meant everyone stepping up and working that little bit harder. Within the first week the council had:

• Reduced access to the offices, put in increased cleaning regimes and hand sanitisers;
• Established back office support for those working from home such as scanning and printing assistance;
• Closed off public spaces such as playgrounds;
• Maintained refuse collection services;
• Allowed residents with parking permits to park in council car parks free of charge and suspended parking charges for all NHS and social care workers;
• Set up and staffed a dedicated 7 day a week phone line to support our vulnerable residents access supplies;
• Worked with partners to provide these essential supplies;
• Contributed to a Kent wide dedicated business support line;
• Provided temporary housing for all those who were sleeping rough.

This set the pattern for how the council would be responding to the challenges posed by the pandemic, for 2021 as TDC responded to the announcements from the daily government briefings. The council carried out the following activities:

• Telephoned or visited over 6000 extremely vulnerable residents;
• Emailed, messaged and telephoned again over 6000 extremely vulnerable residents;
• Distributed £92K worth of support for the extremely vulnerable through food provision;
• Distributed £113K in support for those in fuel poverty;
• Issued warnings and prohibition notices to businesses who have flouted the restrictions
• Responded to the biggest influx of visitors to the coast in a long time;
• Increased toilet cleaning regime;
• First council in Kent to hold an online licensing sub-committee;
• Used innovative antibacterial coatings on high touch points such as parking machines;
• Temporarily closed roads to support the reopening of high streets in July;
• Distributed discretionary test and trace support funding;
• Set up an enforcement team specifically for covid business enforcement and advice;
• Provided a door knocking service for track and trace;
• Introduced covid wardens for the high street;
• Created a beach management plan to respond to higher than usual visitor numbers;
• Provided sites for two drive in testing facilities and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 303