In addition to any announcements made at the meeting, please see Paper BC/20/11 attached, detailing events attended by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman.

Note: the meeting was adjourned between 6:15 pm and 6:20 pm.

26.1            Councillor Grandon, the Chair, referred to Paper BC/20/11, which was for noting and invited Councillor Ward to make his announcements.

26.2         Councillor Ward said that the second Covid-19 wave had now hit hard, and the District was back in lockdown. Things were different this time round with fewer restrictions, and numbers in Suffolk, whilst fluctuating, were still low compared with the national picture. The latest data from the Suffolk Corona Watch site showed the East of England currently had an estimated R value of between 1.0 and 1.3. Here in Babergh, there were 113 cases reported in the past week, which was a rate of 120.6 per 100,000. In total, there had been 925 confirmed cases and sadly 63 deaths since the pandemic began.  Although this latter number was the latest data from the ONS and was only up to 6^th November. However, there was currently a spike in Hadleigh and this was very concerning. The current weekly numbers for the town were 67 cases, which was a rate of 601 per 100,000. Although extremely high, it was thankfully on the decline. Whilst there had been a focus in the press on the care homes and high school, household-to-household transmission was also taking place and residents must continue with a relentless public awareness and messaging campaign.

The ‘Stick With It Suffolk’ campaign was still active and the Home But Not Alone service had been reactivated. The advice was to stay at home as much as possible, but if going out the message was simple: hands, face, space. Use sanitisers where provided in shops; wear a mask and maintain distance from others. That way transmission would be minimised and bring the infection rate down.

The Council had started to distribute the latest government business grants – the Local Restrictions Support Grant and the Additional Restrictions Grant. A review of the Council’s response to enable homeless to have somewhere to live through the winter was also being undertaken.

The Council was awaiting the Government’s one-year spending review, with a statement due from the chancellor tomorrow. Whilst it remained disappointing that the review won’t provide longer-term financial certainty, hopefully it would include more support for local authorities to address the very significant financial pressures faced and also include the measures needed to provide certainty for budget-setting next year. There was a significant budget challenge at Babergh and work had started to consider measures to be taken to produce a balanced budget for 2021-22 and provide a sound MTFS for the years beyond.

To finish on an upbeat note, the first BMS Innovation Awards were held virtually on 3^rd November and were a great success in terms of promoting innovation in the districts, although the technology had gremlins. There had been 11 categories and there were inspiring stories for each of the 28 finalists, so the winners were those that really stood out.

26.3            Councillor Grandon added her concern for the residents in Hadleigh and that Councillors would have residents in their thoughts.