David Rouane: New Year Message

ANY review of the last year has to, once again, start with covid.

First of all, let me express my sympathies to anyone who has lost a loved one during this terrible period.

I would like to thank all of those who have stepped forward to help people in need, not only once, but again and again as the pandemic has resurfaced.

In addition to those in the health service and the members of the public who have volunteered, I would like to publicly thank our council staff who have kept services going, despite experiencing periods of illness themselves, suffering bereavements and having to work extra hours to cover for missing colleagues.

Some of our staff were redeployed from their usual jobs to work in the community hub, providing practical help and advice for residents who are struggling, answering residents’ enquiries about finances, giving out food parcels and calling residents who were self-isolating to offer support.

Recognising the strength of the voluntary and community sector throughout the pandemic, the council has supported their efforts this year through community grants, advice and guidance.

Alongside our partners in the Oxfordshire local contact tracing service, we’ve helped to contact people who the national test and trace service had been unable to reach.

During the past year this service has successfully contacted, advised to self-isolate and offered support to nearly 7,000 Oxfordshire residents who have tested positive for covid, helping to break chains of transmission.

Despite this, we were able to keep most of our services open and move ahead with many of the changes we wanted to make.

It is perhaps nearly two years since I attended a meeting of Henley retailers about the need to introduce parking enforcement (traffic wardens, if you like).

This came into operation in November and, after a short period of warnings, issued 257 tickets across the district in its first three weeks.

This, along with the introduction of one-hour free parking in the town centre car parks and the planned installation of electric vehicle charging points, should make visiting the town centre a more pleasant experience.

South Oxfordshire piloted Housing First, a scheme to support people who have experienced homelessness along with complex health or social needs to move into stable homes where they can rebuild their lives, this year. It is now being rolled out across the county.

Doing what we can locally to address the climate and ecological crisis remains one of our main priorities.

In the new year we will be launching our Climate Action Plan but already we have started a scheme to invite community groups to come forward to manage areas of land owned by the council, planting trees and increasing the biodiversity of what might currently be dull areas of grass.

I hope that we are all able to have a peaceful Christmas and hope for a better new year.