Agenda item

The Cabinet is requested to consider the agenda report and its appendix and make the following resolutions as set out below:

 

1.    That Cabinet notes and comments on the Council’s response to Covid19 (C19) emergency to date.

 

2.    That Cabinet notes that a report on the financial implications of C19 on the Council’s finances will be prepared for consideration by Corporate Governance and Audit Committee, Cabinet and Council.

 

3.    That Cabinet notes that a Recovery Framework Document will be developed for consideration by Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Cabinet and Council.

RESOLVED

 

1.    That the Council’s response to Covid19 (C19) emergency to date be noted.

 

2.    That Cabinet notes that a report on the financial implications of C19 on the Council’s finances should be prepared for consideration by Corporate Governance and Audit Committee, Cabinet and Council.

 

3.    That Cabinet notes that a Recovery Framework Document should be developed for consideration by Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Cabinet and Council.

Mrs Lintill wished to thank Mrs Shepherd and the whole Chichester District Council team for their hard work during the pandemic. She drew attention to the council being referred to by Central Government as number one in the country for ensuring the despatch of business grants.

 

Mrs Lintill then invited Mrs Shepherd to introduce the report. Mrs Shepherd also thanked all the staff for their hard work with particular reference to the critical services and the staff who had willingly been redeployed to those areas.

 

Each member of the Senior Leadership Team then took it in turn to outline the work of their service teams. Each gave thanks to their staff for their hard work during the pandemic.

 

The Senior Leadership Team then responded to members questions. Mr Frost confirmed that he was not aware of any negative impact on the communication between Planning Policy officers and third parties as a result of the pandemic. Mr Ward confirmed that a small tax relief is available for staff working from home with a link to the HMRC website provided on the Staff Intranet as staff are required to apply directly. He explained that the amount was approximately £1.20 per week. Mr Ward explained that the Governments Fair Funding review had been delayed again but as part of that review it would consider the current council tax capping scheme.

 

Mrs Lintill then invited Cllr Sharp to ask a question.

 

Cllr Sharp asked how the council would set about planning for a better for the recovery of the high street and work out how to make sure the pavements, the streets and car parks and Eastgate Square in particular are re-invented so that people can cross the road safely

 

Mr Bell responded as follows:

 

As discussion now turns to recovery with a gradual increase in retail being relaxed from lock down over the next  few weeks/months (depending on sector) , we have established an officer group at CDC to start to work up some immediate, short term and longer term actions to support our high street in the City and the Towns. This group will be led by Property and Growth and will be supported by Economic Development, Place, Licencing and Events, Planning, Communications and Environmental Health. As part of the work in developing an action recovery plan the group will also be considering the advice from the High Street Task force ten point check list planning for recovery as follows:

 

1.    Common plan for public space

Bringing together all of those responsible for the management of publicly accessible space to work on a common plan for managing social distancing and movement through the area following government guidance. – The officers have already been in contact with The BID to ascertain their recovery plans and have contacted WSCC Officers to ask for their lead officer regarding the public highway.

 

 2.    Enhanced cleaning and sanitising

Plan for enhanced cleaning and sanitising to ensure the risks of the virus spreading are reduced. This may include the provision of hand sanitiser stations.

 

3. Signage

As is already required for supermarkets, it is likely that government guidance on public areas will require signage to remind people with symptoms not to enter areas, to maintain social distancing, to offer opportunities for hand washing or sanitising. Consistency of messaging on this will be important. – We have already given consideration to how we enter and exit car parks and encourage contactless payment or payment by mipermit and further work will continue on messages around social distancing.

 

 4.Identify hotspots

Audit the centre to identify activity ‘hotspots’ – these may have changed since lockdown. Look at the popular routes people take through the town and identify potential problem areas. Many towns will need to introduce restrictions in movement through their centres to maintain social distancing, or have to close roads to traffic to widen pavements, or introduce one way walking routes as in supermarkets. We have made contact with WSCC about the issue and will continue to work with them to ensure they are aware of any pinch points.

 

5. Inclusive social distancing

In designing new walking routes and managing social distancing pay attention to the challenges this may present for people with disabilities.

 

6.Walking and cycling

Plan for more people to access your town by walking and cycling.

 

7. Access and egress

Access and egress from a town centre and to parts of it will be a critical challenge for social distancing. Make sure you consider all arrival points, how will you make people safe in waiting for or using public transport? Are there narrow walkways from car parks? What action might you have to take to close certain routes to maintain safety or at peak capacity? Do bus stops need to move to locations where queues can be better accommodated?

 

 8. Communicate with businesses

Communicate with all town/city centre businesses. The re-opening of many businesses is likely to be delayed by government. Place leaders should work to keep in touch with these businesses to understand their plans and challenges. The Economic Developement officers have already been in contact with a large number of businesses and will continue to work directly with the business to keep them informed. The service has also been in contact with the BID to establish their plans in assisting the businesses for recovery.

 

 9.Stewarding

To ensure public places are safe to visit may require a greater physical presence on the streets for cleaning and stewarding. Coordinate between existing management organisations to identify how this best can be done. The internal working group consists of officers from services across the organisation and will draw on other resources where necessary.

 

10. Markets

Well-planned markets support footfall in towns and should be considered anchors. The market location and operating hours may also be revised where new footfall patterns have developed during crisis stage. – The officers have started to work on the recovery plan for the markets, the location, start date and health and safety issues including social distancing will need to be considered and if there are no further announcements with regard to markets then we are looking to reintroduce food markets from the beginning of June.

 

For many of the actions we are not the lead authority or partner and we have engaged at an early stage with WSCC and the BID to encourage them to start to develop their recovery plans so that they dovetail together. 

 

Mrs Lintill then invited Cllr Barrie to ask a question.

 

Cllr Barrie then asked the following question:

 

We are very grateful for all the excellent cooperation between the charities (Four Streets, Heart and Stonepillow) and CDC which has meant that the homeless have been provided with food and shelter during Covid 19.

 

As we ease out of lockdown we would like to know what plans all these partner organisations might be able to put together to work on continuing to support rough sleepers going forward.

 

Ideally we would like to support a continuation of this “Housing First” model. We would like to suggest that long-term moving rough sleepers out of the Travelodge and into accommodation where there are cooking facilities and shared social space might be an aspiration.This could entail converting empty office properties or even shops that are no longer needed due to the change in retail habits. The idea to give rough sleepers accommodation and support has proven to be successful and it would be good not to go backwards.

 

Mr Sutton then responded as follows:

 

It is appropriate to acknowledge the role of the voluntary sector organisations listed in helping us to accommodate almost all of Chichester’s rough sleepers during the lockdown.  It is also worth acknowledging that the extent of collaborative working both with and between the organisations mentioned is now stronger than it has been for some time.

 

All of us share the aspiration to use the opportunity which the present crisis has provided to consolidate the progress which has been made since the end of March.  During this period many of those placed in temporary accommodation have used the opportunity to make positive changes which would almost certainly not have been possible if they had remained on the street.

 

We are working closely with Stonepillow in particular to make sure that this progress can be sustained.  We are determined to avoid situations arising where former rough sleepers return to the street.  To achieve this we are working with Stonepillow on Personal Housing Plans for all those who are currently accommodated.

 

Personal Housing Plans involve:

 

·         An individual assessment of a client’s housing and support needs

·         An identification of support that may be needed to achieve or sustain accommodation

·         Definition of the most suitable and realistic options which may be appropriate in the short or long term e.g. social housing, private renting, supported housing or reconnection to another area.

 

We are making progress with this and already one former rough sleeper has taken up a tenancy with a private landlord as a result of this intervention.  Stonepillow have also secured the short term use of some former retail premises which lend themselves to use as “move on” accommodation.  We are also looking at ways in which we can use Discretionary Housing Payments to help clients move into vacant accommodation.

Many of those currently placed in hotels are likely to benefit from a longer period of stability and support which the Chichester Hostel can offer.  To facilitate this we are taking steps to prioritise move on from the Hostel (for those who are ready to do so) into longer term social housing via the Council’s housing register.   We will also be working with our partners through the rough sleeper panel to put in place multi-agency support.

 

The Cabinet thanked staff for all their hard work and gave their support to the proposal and commented on how it would bring in revenue for the council.

 

The Cabinet then made the following resolution:

 

RESOLVED

 

1.    That the Council’s response to Covid19 (C19) emergency to date be noted.

 

2.    That Cabinet notes that a report on the financial implications of C19 on the Council’s finances should be prepared for consideration by Corporate Governance and Audit Committee, Cabinet and Council.

 

3.    That Cabinet notes that a Recovery Framework Document should be developed for consideration by Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Cabinet and Council.