May 2020

5 Buckden Roundabout May 2020 District & County Councillors From your County Councillor It is a truism to say that we are living through unprecedented times. My main thought is to hope that illness and loss are kept to a minimum in our community. All our other concerns pale into insignificance compared to staying well. The Covid crisis has caused a major upheaval in the way public life is conducted through the various levels of council. It has been impressive to see how officers and elected members at all levels have responded to the new challenges. I am also heartened by the public response and outpouring of communi- ty goodwill and desire to help neighbours, especially the most vulnerable. As far as my area of the public service is concerned, the County Council, officers are making valiant efforts to maintain services in adult social care and in looking after the most vulnerable children. These services were already going through a period of transformation, which involves, among other things, reducing expenditure. The Covid crisis has revealed just how stretched the service has become. Nevertheless, they are doing what they can and we salute them for that. When we get through this crisis, there will obviously have to be a period of serious re - appraisal. The performance of the gov- ernment will be sharply scrutinised; the policies of keeping taxation low and reducing public expenditure may need to be re - thought; policies in relation to the recruitment of migrant workers and our self - imposed economic and constitutional isolation from other countries will need to be subject to re- vised scrutiny. But all that lies ahead. For now, my wish for us all is to stay well and support each other as much as we possibly can. Peter Downes From your District Councillor I hope that you are all well and coping at this difficult time. I thought that I should give you a quick summary of how Hun- tingdon District Council is working hard to both maintain ex- isting services and some new ones for Covid 19. Services HDC continues to operate the majority of the services they are allowed to operate. This includes maintaining a 100 per cent service on all waste streams, street cleaning and grounds maintenance. One Leisure has issued Exercise Plans and has also started video exercise programs online. Paying Grants and Benefits HDC acts as a main local route for the Government ’ s Covid funding with approximately £25 million to distribute. HDC staff teams in Economic Development, Finance and Revenue & Ben- efits have also been working flat out to process the £10k and £25k grant payments to eligible businesses and all the applica- tions for the HDC ’ s new council tax deferral scheme. The business grant scheme has not been simple to administer. The vast majority of eligible businesses do not pay business rates, meaning HDC does not hold the bank account details for those to whom it needs to make payments. If you qualify for support, HDC will do everything possible to ensure speedy pay- ments are made, but at this time please do not try to contact HDC direct but use the Gov.UK websites for applications and follow - ups. This is because HDC is the payment channel and does not have the staff or the data to answer your questions. Huntingdon Community Hub With many vulnerable people to care for, the County Council is responsible for providing help and support to those residents who have been deemed 'clinically extremely vulnerable' and placed on a “ shielded list ”. There are many other potential people who may not be covered by this scheme, so HDC has recently set up Huntingdon Community Hub to identify and help the vulnerable. This initiative is being run in partnership with Buckden Parish Council. So, if you want help or know of someone who does, then please contact the Parish Council. Active Regional Co - ordination Given the scale of the emergency, it is important that matters have a two - way route for discussion. I thought you would like to know how this currently operates in Huntingdonshire Dis- trict Council and our locality. There is a weekly Strategic Co - ordinating Group (SCG) confer- ence call takes place every Friday involving all Cambridgeshire principal authority Leaders and Chief Executives, MPs, Health, Police, Fire and the Mayor. This is in addition to the daily SCG officer calls. There is also a weekly Mayoral Forum that James Palmer has initiated which will focus on business recovery and consists of the local council leaders, MPs, business groups, trade unions, bus companies and representatives of the main banks. In addi- tion, the HDC Managing Director, Joanne Lancaster and Execu- tive Leader, Ryan Fuller also join the weekly call with Secretary of State Rob Jenrick and the weekly call with the District Coun- cils Network of other district Leaders and Chief Executives. As a result, Huntingdonshire District Council is receiving the best possible advice and support from all levels of Govern- ment, enabling it to support you as Residents with the best possible service in this unprecedented period. I hope you find this helpful and as always please contact me if you have problems with anything. Once again, my very best wishes for keeping well and safe. Hamish Masson