Agenda item

This report summarises Waverley Borough Council’s response so far to the coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19) and highlights some critical risks that will shape the Council’s plan and actions to help the borough recover.

Recommendation

It is recommended that this report be noted.

81.1     The Leader introduced the Chief Executive’s report which provided an account, for the record, of Waverley Borough Council’s response to the unprecedented medical and social crisis of coronavirus as at the end of April 2020. The Leader reiterated his thanks to all staff for their response, and took the opportunity to commend Waverley’s Senior Management Team and in particular the Chief Executive, Tom Horwood, and Strategic Directors Annie Righton and Graeme Clark, for their magnificent contribution.

81.2     Mr Tom Horwood, Chief Executive, outlined the scale of the response by the community and by council officers and Members to the unprecedented circumstances and the challenges that it presented. The council had supported health and social care services, but had also provided direct support to vulnerable people and to businesses in the borough. These services were continuing, even as the community and the council organisation began to move into the recovery phase. There were clear risks relating to the length of time the crisis would last, and there were financial risks to the council which would require further reporting to the Executive and possibly Full Council in the coming months.

81.3     Cllr Julia Potts, Leader of the Principal Opposition Group, endorsed the report which showed the tremendous effort from everyone at the council and the many community volunteers who had worked with the council in different ways. Everyone should be proud of the way in which Waverley had delivered. Cllr Potts passed on the positive feedback of businesses who had received government grants via Waverley and had commended the professional and efficient way in which these had been administered. Cllr Potts thanked the Executive for the collaborative cross-party approach they had taken, enabling her to participate in the weekly briefings and get a good understanding of what was happening behind the scenes. Cllr Potts extended the thanks of the Conservative Group to staff for their hard work, and asked if update reports could be made to future meetings so that all Members and residents were able to understand the scale of the council’s work in responding to this crisis.

81.4     Cllr Jerry Hyman echoed the thanks to staff, noted the financial uncertainty for the council and implications for future service delivery. He asked for more detailed information in relation to the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths in Waverley, the testing and tracing arrangements, and what the council could be doing to accelerate this activity.

81.5     Cllr Jenny Else echoed the points made by Cllr Potts, and added that she was pleased to have received very few complaints about services such as refuse collection and grass-cutting, which indicated what a great job the council’s contractors were doing in maintaining normal services in very difficult circumstances. Cllr Else went to highlight the community meals service that had expanded its capacity almost overnight to help vulnerable residents, and the phone calls to vulnerable and shielding residents and financial support provided to small businesses. Cllr Else raised a matter that was causing some confusion among vulnerable residents who had been given food boxes but who didn’t need them: there seemed to be some confusion about cancelling the food boxes might affect supermarket priority delivery slots. Cllr Ward thanked Cllr Else for raising that last point which he would look into.

81.6     Cllr John Gray commended the interesting and informative report, and the tremendous achievement by Waverley in what had been accomplished in just 8 weeks. The speed with which new arrangements had been developed and implemented was unprecedented, and would set the standard and expectations for the future. Cllr Gray noted that the financial impact had been referred to and asked when it would be possible to get a better understanding of the impact on the Medium Term Finance Plan, as these clearly would be felt next year, and the year after.

81.7     Executive Members Cllrs Follows, Williams, Palmer, Merryweather and Townsend all spoke in support of the work of the council and community in responding to the crisis, and also the town and parish councils. Additional points were raised in relation to the uncertainty about government funding to support council finances and enable services to be maintained; the need to learn lessons about doing things differently so that communities did not just recover, but were able to ‘build back better’; the positive cross-party working, and partnership working between all levels of local authorities to a common goal; the extent of the uncertainty around the council’s finances in the short and medium term; and the work of the Economic Development team in supporting businesses during this difficult time, and the Parks and Countryside teams in safely managing open spaces as lockdown orders were gradually relaxed.

81.8     In concluding the discussion, the Leader noted that the latest government announcements had not changed the way in which Waverley was working for the time being; the physical and mental wellbeing of staff was a priority concern when thinking about how to transition back to the offices, and this would be done only after careful consideration of the health and safety implications.

The Executive RESOLVED to note the report.

Reason: The report provides an account, for the record, of Waverley Borough Council’s response to the unprecedented medical and social crisis of coronavirus as at the end of April 2020. It includes early notice of potential financial risks facing the Council.