Agenda item

The Service Manager for Scrutiny and Democratic Services presented the report and took the opportunity to reflect on the work and achievements of the Panel to date.  Having been established in June 2020, the Panel had worked extremely hard throughout the pandemic to endeavour to give a voice and support to local communities, organisations, public sector bodies and employees.

Frequent Panel meetings were subsequently held with any outcomes and recommendations from the discussions being reported to Cabinet by the Chairman/Vice Chairman as required.  The Panel welcomed a variety of guests across the meetings who spoke to Members about their experiences regarding the ever-changing pandemic landscape including lockdown closures, PPE, employee and patient health, the vaccination programme, safe customer environments, mental health issues and much more.

Invited guests were as follows:

Ashfield District Council

Chief Executive, Service and Assistant Directors

Corporate Finance Manager (and Section 151 Officer)

Senior Economic Development Officer

Town Centres and Markets Manager

Senior COVID Business Support Officer

Leader of the Council

Service Manager for Place and Wellbeing

Outside Organisations

Martin Rigley, Chairman of Discover Ashfield

Gary Jordan – Chair of Mansfield & Ashfield 2020

Richard Fuller – County Battery

Ewa Tinklin – Twisted Tinks Modern Barbers

Nina Bianco – Kirkby Sales and Exchange

Ray O’Connor – The Shop, Sutton

Sam Handley – Swiftool Precision Engineering Ltd

Nottinghamshire Police

Inspector Mark Dickson

Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Richard Mitchell - Chief Executive

Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group

Rosa Waddingham – Chief Nurse

David Ainsworth – Mid Notts Locality Director

Sports and Leisure Management - Everyone Active

Lorenzo Clarke – Ashfield Contract Manager.

Through presentations, discussion and debate at all the meetings, Members had witnessed examples of amazing partnership working across all the sectors to provide support and guidance to local communities throughout the pandemic.

Mention was made of the sterling work undertake by the original Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Panel, Councillors David Hennigan and Jim Blagden respectively.  Both Members were extremely proactive in the earlier days of the pandemic and worked tirelessly to keep everyone informed as to progress.

The information that the Panel received from local businesses at the November 2020 meeting was invaluable and some examples were formulated into case studies by the Council’s Economic Development Team and used for ongoing planning support.

In the early stages of the Panel’s work the Vice Chairman, Councillor Jim Blagden, suggested that a Covid memorial would be a fitting tribute to key workers and 18 months later funding was now secured for four memorial benches to be located in each of Ashfield’s areas.  Children from Holgate School in Hucknall had taken part in developing designs for the benches and this contribution would be recognised by the Chairman of the Council at a later date.

A set of potential recommendations were then read out to the Panel and discussed accordingly.

The Scrutiny Research Officer concluded the update by congratulating the Panel Members on their commitment and contributions towards the excellent outcomes from the Panel.  So much had been achieved over the past 18 months and all the invited guests had been more than willing, during very challenging times, to attend the meetings and contribute towards helping others.  It was proof that working together was a recipe for success.

RESOLVED

that the following recommendations be presented to Cabinet at its next meeting in June 2022:

a)    Commend the tireless work of the voluntary sector, both during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic;

b)    the Council to continue to build and nurture the relationships forged with its partners during the pandemic and to further develop its role as a community leader providing pivotal central support to all parties Continue to build and nurture the relationships forged with partners during the pandemic, and to further develop the Council’s role as a community leader providing pivotal central support to all parties;

c)    Ensure the Communications Team continue to prioritise the Council’s relationship with the Council’s relationship with Ashfield’s voluntary sector, providing an effective conduit for the dissemination of information and signposting services as required;

d)    to continue to support Ashfield’s residents and offer encouragement and guidance to enable reintegration back into their local communities with particular focus on working with organisations supporting vulnerable groups Continue to support Ashfield residents and offer encouragement and guidance to enable reintegration back into local communities with a particular focus on working with organisations supporting vulnerable groups;

e)    the Council to continue its focus on ensuring available grant funding is effectively administered to local businesses and organisations to assist with the reinvigoration and support of Ashfield’s local economy following the pandemic Continue to ensure available grant funding is effectively administered to local businesses and organisations to assist with the reinvigoration and support of Ashfield’s local economy following the pandemic;

(During consideration of this item, Councillor Dale Grounds left the meeting at 7.55pm.)