Agenda item

The Chair of Council, Councillor George Derx, made the following announcement:-

“I would like to welcome the new Ward Member for Armthorpe, Councillor Frank Tyas, to his first Council meeting following the recent By-election on 15th February 2018.”

On behalf of the Chair of the Health and Well-Being Board, Councillor Rachael Blake, the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Glyn Jones,made the following announcement:-

“Councils have been asked to sign up to the Motor Neurone Disease Charter. This was discussed at the Health and Well Being Board in 2015.

Motor neurone disease (MND) describes a group of diseases that affect the nerves (motor neurones) in the brain and spinal cord that tell your muscles what to do. With MND, messages from these nerves gradually stop reaching the muscles, leading them to weaken, stiffen and waste. It affects up to 5,000 adults in the UK at any one time.

The MND Charter is a statement of the respect, care and support that people living with MND and their carers, deserve and should expect.

The five points of the Charter are:-

1.          The right to an early diagnosis and information;

2.          The right to access quality care and treatments;

3.          The right to be treated as individuals and with dignity and respect;

4.          The right to maximise their quality of life; and

5.      Carers of people with MND have the right to be valued, respected, listened to and well-supported.

Since then, the Council has addressed the 5 points of the Charter and now wishes to formally adopt the Charter.  The Charter will be discussed at the Health and Wellbeing Board on 15th March, after which the Council will be signing up to the Charter. 

I am aware that Councillors including Councillor Houlbrook, have been approached by their residents to encourage their Council to adopt this Charter and I am sure that Councillor Blake would welcome residents to attend the next Health and Wellbeing Board.  Councillor Blake will keep you informed when the formal adoption by Doncaster Council has taken place.” 

Councillor Chris McGuinness, Cabinet Member for Communities, Voluntary Sector and the Environment, made the following announcement:-

“Firstly, I would like to give my thanks to all the Council staff who have worked so hard to deal with the difficult weather conditions over the past week.

The harsh conditions have had a massive impact on the Council’s key services, with the safety of our employees and residents being the ultimate priority.

One of the most important services which has been impacted by the snow has been the Recycling and Waste service.

While Suez staff tried to continue to undertake collections, ultimately the conditions made operations unsafe and the service was suspended.  This meant that no collections took place on Wednesday and Thursday, and only a limited amount took place on Friday on accessible roads.

As you are aware, the new waste collection contract is now underway, with the changeover to the new system of collections taking place this week.

As a consequence, any changes to this week’s collection schedule would result in a high level of confusion across the entire Borough, with the potential to negatively impact the vast majority of residents.  Therefore, the decision has been taken that this week’s collection schedule must continue as planned.

This means that unfortunately, some residents whose collections were missed last week will not have their black bin collected for longer than usual.  This is deeply regrettable and we apologise to those people affected.

However, we are working with Suez to minimise the impact this has had on our residents, and an agreement has been reached that refuse collectors will also collect extra waste if it is presented next to your black bin on your next collection day.  Whilst this is not ideal, we hope that this helps to re-assure residents that any extra rubbish which accumulates will be disposed of.

I will make sure that Members are updated with the latest information as regularly as possible, and I will be happy to stay behind after the meeting has finished along with the relevant Officers, if any Member wishes to discuss this in more detail.  There will also be a Members update issued later today including a list of Frequently Asked Questions.

Councillor Nigel Ball, Cabinet Member for Public Health, Leisure and Culture, made the following announcement:-

“Over the past week, we have seen extremely bad weather conditions which have been a real challenge for Doncaster and its public services.  Our most vulnerable citizens, the homeless, have faced real dangers; literally being out in the cold with nowhere to seek shelter.

Doncaster Council, its Complex Lives Outreach Team working with the third Sector, St. Leger Homes and other partners, have ensured that Doncaster had enough refuge capacity to deal with the bitterly cold weather we have experienced over the last week.

Over the past week, 49 people were engaged by the Complex Lives Team and partners on the street or presented as homeless.  24 of these 49 people are known to the services associated with rough sleeping on a regular basis.  37 people accepted the offer of assistance and were accommodated or helped to reconnect with family and friends.

Our staff were working around the clock to ensure that any individual caught out in the snow and cold could access a warm and safe environment.

These teams have been a credit to Doncaster and have made sure that rough sleepers and homeless people in this Town, get the support they need in times of crisis.

I want to thank them for this work which I am sure you will agree has without a doubt, saved lives in this Town during a bitterly cold week when the real face of Tory ‘Austerity’ cuts could be visible for all to see.”

The Chief Executive, Jo Miller, made the following announcement:-

“Due to the inclement weather, I as Head of Paid Service, know that you will join me in paying tribute to our staff, not just those staff in Street Scene and the Complex Lives Team, but whatever it took in Doncaster last week, people were prepared for the weather and they absolutely did their all and I cannot praise our staff and our partners highly enough. 

People did whatever it took, whether that was changing their job roles or providing their 4x4 vehicles to get assistance out to help our most vulnerable.  We had staff working over the weekend because we had a power outage and we couldn’t be satisfied that our alarm systems were working properly at that point, so we called every single one of our vulnerable residents which involved a significant amount of work and volunteering by people. 

In particular, I would like to ask you to join with me in paying tribute to two of our Highways Maintenance workers, Dave Hunt and Shaun Crabtree, who last Wednesday, were ploughing snowdrifts on the Tickhill Road between Tickhill and Wadworth.  The way they do snow ploughing is that one does the ploughing and the other one spots.  They were snow ploughing and they came across a man in the snow.  If they hadn’t spotted him he may have been hit by the snow plough and there would have been a fatality.  The person was asleep in the snow and was not dressed for inclement weather, so they raised the alarm and that gentleman was appropriately escorted home.  Had they not undertaken the action that they did, there would have been a fatality.  So they are heroes and life savers and I would like to record thanks to the whole staff of this Council, but in particular to Dave Hunt and Shaun Crabtree.”

The Chair of Council, Councillor George Derx, also paid tribute to Dave Hunt and Shaun Crabtree for saving the individual’s life.