Decision details

The Director, Prosperity and Development presented the report, which sought to update the Cabinet on the action taken to assist our community to maintain safe social distancing when visiting our town centres and parks during the current Covid-19 pandemic.

The Director stated that at the start of the lockdown there was a significant drop in the number of people visiting the main town centres but over recent weeks there had been a gradual increase. 

The Director drew Members’ attention to section 5 of the report, whereby the progress and the Council’s ‘signs and lines’ approach to maintaining safe social distancing within the public spaces was outlined.

(Note: At this point in proceedings, County Borough Councillor P. Jarman entered the virtual meeting.)

The Leader spoke of the recent change made to the 2 metre social distancing rule in England and acknowledged that any similar changes made by Welsh Government would need to be communicated to Local Authorities in a timely manner to ensure that signage is updated appropriately. In respect of the financial implications of the signage to the Council, the Leader advised that the Council would be claiming through Welsh Government support to Local Authorities.

The Cabinet Member for Enterprise, Development and Housing thanked the officers for their work in ensuring the town centres are safe for the public to enter businesses as they begin to reopen. The Cabinet Member felt that the approach taken had been practical and acknowledged that the town centres would need to be monitored as the situation continued to change. The Cabinet Member questioned whether there had been any feedback given from local retailers following their recent reopening and was advised that the first day upon reopening was busy but had begun to calm down. The Director advised that a more detailed feedback report would be presented to Cabinet at a later date.

The Cabinet RESOLVED:

1.    To consider the information provided and notes the action taken to date in response to the COVID 19 pandemic; and

2.    That the Group Director for Prosperity, Development & Frontline Services monitors the situation on a regular basis to ensure our town centres and public spaces are suitably safe, and in consultation with the relevant Cabinet Member(s), introduces additional measures and/or enforces measures where necessary in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.