Minutes:
Councillor Miscandlon stated that no questions had been received submitted under Procedure Rule 8.6 and asked if there were any questions under Procedure Rule. 8.4 from Councillor Tanfield as Leader of the Opposition.
Councillor Tanfield said that she also wished to express her thanks to all the staff of Fenland District Council. The last few months have been unprecedented and service provision has been amazing. She also wanted to highlight the great work of getting grants to local businesses which has been vitally important; our businesses are the heart of Fenland and any issues have been dealt with efficiently and effectively.
Councillor Tanfield addressed Councillor Boden regarding rural broadband, saying that home working and zoom meetings may be here for some time to come and, although not something we deal with specifically, it has highlighted the struggle for decent internet connection in some rural areas. This issue has also been experienced by some members, and therefore she asked if this is something that could be pushed. Councillor Boden agreed the importance of broadband not only in rural areas but in towns also. He said understandably there has been a great deal of additional use of broadband over the last five months and there will be greater demand going forward. Therefore broadband provision is increasingly one of the vital infrastructure provisions which has to exist for business and community success. He agreed that unfortunately there are some rural “not spots” which are poorly served by broadband within the district but surprisingly on average Fenland does have remarkably good broadband support. However, he stated that we do have to do better and whilst it is not our responsibility we do have a voice at various tables of those who do have the responsibility; the most important of which is the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority. Councillor Boden added that both he and Councillor Count, speaking on behalf of the County Council, never stop asking for further investment in broadband to make sure that it is brought up to adequate standard and continues to be improved. Councillor Boden thanked Councillor Tanfield for the question.
Councillor Tanfield said Councillor Wilkes had brought to her attention the isolation that people with disabilities feel during the pandemic. Councillor Tanfield therefore asked what facilities are in place for people with disabilities, particularly those who have been unable to get out because of the social distancing rules. She added that Councillor Wilkes had further experienced struggles when contacting local charities and so she wondered if the council could work to make more helpful information available in a better structured way. Councillor Boden said this was a very valid point with national and local implications. He agreed there are a number of communities that are particularly susceptible to isolation and loneliness and people with disabilities form a significant proportion of that number, and the situation can be very debilitating. However, the Local Resilience Forum is aware of this and has made attempts to reach out. We do also have a COVID-19 hotline available through the main Council telephone number and assistance can be given to put people in touch with volunteers. Many of these are available even to have a chat over the telephone just to relieve some of the isolation that people have felt. There are many communities, neighbours and friends and families that do help across Fenland to ensure that people are not isolated. Unfortunately some people do fall through the gaps but again he stressed the fact that the helpline is available. Councillor Tanfield thanked Councillor Boden.
Councillor Mrs French said that she had just this morning attended a Communities and Partnership meeting at County where it was discussed the amount of people who had been helped. The total number of residents shielding up to the end of July was 32,000. This number is now decreasing and although the number of hubs are slowly closing down, this help will always be there. Councillor Mrs French added that she was surprised and disappointed that nobody had picked up that Councillor Wilkes needed help. Over the last 4/5 months, FACT has been an absolute gem in March and other volunteer groups started up which have done a wonderful job and she apologised to Councillor Wilkes that he was missed out. She advised him to contact her direct if he does need any help. Councillor Tanfield thanked Councillor Mrs French.
Councillor Tanfield asked Councillor Boden what processes are in place if a local COVID-19 lockdown is required. Councillor Boden advised that there is a great deal of coordination at local resilience forum level, which for us is Cambridgeshire and Peterborough combined. The Cabinet Office identifies areas that may need local lockdown and then liaises with the local resilience forum and the individual local authority to ensure that all necessary steps are being taken. If necessary, more restrictive steps are then taken. However more localised lockdowns or actions can be taken by the local authority themselves, as seen recently for example with a factory within Wisbech. Therefore, it is a local coordinated matter between local authorities under the guidance of the local resilience forum, with the Cabinet Office watching all the statistics and intervening or expressing interest when it needs to. Councillor Tanfield thanked Councillor Boden.
Councillor Miscandlon invited Councillor Wilkes to speak on the issue previously raised by Councillor Tanfield regarding people with disabilities. Councillor Wilkes said he had felt forgotten with these new measures and had called the hotline for help to get exercise given that people had permission and unfortunately is not something he can do independently. The helpline told him to ring Cam Sight who said they could not provide him with the help he was asking for due to the rules on social distancing, therefore he received no help. He felt that he had been passed from pillar to post and his main concern is that as restrictions start to be eased, there will be heavier reliance on assistance outside of one’s house-hold. Generally he relies on a cab to get about with assistance at the start and end of journeys from taxi drivers and venue staff. He is not getting any answers as to what legal rights people like himself have to get the assistance needed that could be received pre-COVID. He feels that if disabled people are not going to have their independence stolen from them, we need those answers. Councillor Miscandlon thanked Councillor Wilkes and invited Councillor Boden to reply having responded to Councillor Tanfield previously.
Councillor Boden thanked Councillor Wilkes for his extremely valuable feedback. He said that the COVID-19 hotline does not provide services itself but acts as a signpost towards service providers and he is sorry to hear that Cam Sight were not able to assist; however he will ensure that Councillor Wilke’s experience will be fed back. Furthermore he will ask officers to contact Councillor Wilkes to discuss this further and see where it might be possible to find assistance so that individuals are in a position of being able to rely on others so they do not have their independence stolen from them. Councillor Wilkes said he would welcome that; it would be a great help to him and others within the community.