Covid recovery plan a ‘framework’ to develop

‘We can’t do this alone,’ says council leader, ‘but in partnership with communities’

THE leader of West Berkshire Council has made no apologies for having a coronavirus recovery strategy that lacks detail.

The council document sets out the priority areas structured around health, education and the local economy.

It details how the council and its partners aim to improve the quality of life of all of those who live or work in the district and what has been done since the pandemic broke.

Speaking at an executive meeting last month, the leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition Lee Dillon (Thatcham North East) said: “I don’t mean this in any disrespect, it’s a very wordy document, which more tells a narrative of what’s happened rather than a strategy going forward.

“I take it on face value that the devil will be in the detail of the detailed delivery plans.

“Our point around the economy will be what can the council do with its own purchasing power to be able to help support businesses, particularly around personal protective equipment and getting that confidence back, because without the confidence, the economy won’t recover, particularly the hospitality sector.”

Council leader Lynne Doherty (Con, Speen) said the document would provide a framework to “focus the recovery journey on”.

She added that the council wanted to develop the plan with communities, rather than do it for them.

Responding to Mr Dillon, she said: “I make no apologies for that.

“We are trying to be proactive. “We recognise we can’t do this alone, we have to do this in partnership. “It is a strategy and I make no apologies for it not being a completed delivery plan.

“I don’t think we should be doing this to people.

“We have to work with both our residents, our partners, our stakeholders, so that the things we implement are welcome and sustainable as opposed to what we think they might need.”

Mrs Doherty said that the council was still responding to the pandemic and that its impacts were not fully known at this stage.

“However we wanted to be proactive in bringing forward this strategy, believing that the sooner we start the work the more prepared we will be, but acknowledging this is not a complete delivery plan,” she said.

The council is issuing a leaflet on its coronavirus outbreak plan – which outlines how a potential future outbreak would be managed – to all households this month.

A guidance leaflet that was issued at the start of the pandemic experienced delivery problems.

The leader of the Green minority, Carolyne Culver (Ridgeway), said: “The leaflet that went round early in the crisis didn’t get to a lot of people, including people in urban built-up areas, and I know that a private company was employed to do that.

“I think from a value-formoney taxpayers’ point of view, maybe in the future we could involve district councillors because they know their areas quite well and maybe get some volunteers to do it and save money.”

Mrs Doherty said that the new leaflet would be “Royal Mailed to every house so that no house gets missed and we’ve decided that’s the safest way forward”.