Newham Council is issuing regular e-bulletins to residents about what’s happening at the Council and in the borough, including the latest information about how we are responding to Covid-19.
You can read the latest message from Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz below:
I hope you’ve been keeping well and safe during this unprecedented time of public health challenge facing us. From this Saturday pubs, restaurants, cafes and hairdressers are among establishments that will be able to reopen, providing they keep to Covid-19 secure guidelines. Although restrictions are lifted, I urge great caution because of the vulnerabilities of residents in Newham – and we can’t risk a second wave.
Many of you will be pleased to see vital small businesses and amenities re-opening, but the pandemic isn’t over. The threat of coronavirus remains substantial. Look at Leicester, which has been forced back into lockdown following a renewed spike in infection rates and the city recording ten per cent of all new cases in the country.
It is hard to ignore the fact that Leicester, like Newham, is a very diverse community, with significant pockets of deprivation and over-crowded housing. High levels of poverty and deprivation combined with the need to work are thought to be responsible for Leicester’s spike in infections and must serve as a stark reminder to us all in Newham, that some communities are far more vulnerable to this infection than others are.
During this whole pandemic I have repeatedly warned that Newham is disproportionately vulnerable to the worst and most devastating effects of the virus, be that in terms of the numbers who tragically lost their lives, or the potential for economic carnage. The Government’s top down, one size-fits-all handling of the pandemic takes no account of the disproportionate impact on places like Newham and Leicester, and many of our neighbouring London boroughs.
I say where it is possible, continue to practise two-metre social distancing. We have already paid the highest price in terms of mortality. Let’s not contribute to causing a second wave and create more problems for us all. Remember that the further away you are from someone who may have the virus the less likely you are of catching it. So please follow the social distancing signs around the borough and in shops. Whatever you are planning to do when lockdown measures ease further on Saturday please do it safely and considerately, and think of others. If a place like Leicester can fall victim to this deadly infection for a second time, so can Newham.
From this week all councils are required to publish their outbreak management plans, which sets out what will happen in the instance of a local outbreak of Covid-19. In Newham we have deliberately framed our plan as a Covid-19 management plan with a focus on prevention. It is a dynamic document that will evolve as we continue to work with settings and communities and learn from our response to emerging incidents.
I support the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan who has called on the Government to provide more clarity on what powers and resources will be available at a local level to manage local outbreaks of coronavirus. Resources and funds need to be targeted where there is greatest need. I have called on the Prime Minister repeatedly to create and deliver a Covid-19 Premium for those local authorities like Newham who have been hardest hit by the pandemic.
Today we heard from Robert Jenrick, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Housing, Local Government and Communities, about how much money is being given to local authorities to fill the hole created in council budgets by loss of income, and extra expenditure incurred to support residents through this crisis.
A further £500 million has been awarded to be shared by all. While anything we get is welcome, it will never be enough. It’s another sticking plaster solution to a gaping wound. When is the Government going to wake up and fully appreciate the scale of what we are grappling with?
We are looking closely at the announcement as we finalise our Covid-19 recovery plan, which will be bought to Cabinet and Full Council this month. At its heart will be making changes where required to our Community Wealth Building and inclusive economy strategies so that we can deal with the economic impact that the virus has had on Newham during this time and in the months and years ahead.
But two things will be central to our approach going forward, building on what we started when I stepped into office back in May 2018. The first is the absolute prominence of public health in everything we do, and the second is bringing out more explicitly our work in tackling inequality – and that means race equality – in Newham, where 73 per cent of our residents are from Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority communities.
The Secretary of State’s announcement was a bit like the Prime Minister’s economic recovery plan, announced earlier this week as a “New Deal” – a reference to the American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s post-depression re-building programme. Both announcements promised much, but will deliver little. The £5 billion Boris Johnson says he will use to build us out of recession is not new money, nor it seems will very much of it find its way to London.
I challenge both Boris Johnson and Robert Jenrick to come to Newham and tell us why we are undeserving of greater support. Without that support, many, many people in Newham on low wages, from minority ethnic backgrounds, and particularly the young, will be hardest hit by the effects of Covid-19. The Government must step in to prevent this from happening.
Meanwhile as the recession looms – the UK continues to hurtle towards an apparently unstoppable no-deal Brexit – European Londoners have just one year to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme. In Newham, there are 84,950 EU citizens who have already applied. If you have not, now is the time!
Newham is your home. You are part of our vibrant and international Newham family, bringing a richness to our community which is the most diverse borough in the UK. As our friends, our neighbours and our colleagues, you will always be treated with respect and you will be supported in the period ahead. You are essential to the strength of our community and our local economy.
I want you to stay and continue to benefit from the equality, inclusion and fairness that makes our borough so special. That’s why I have joined the call from almost 30 charities and organisations who have written to the Government asking to extend the application period in light of the serious disruption caused to the process by the Covid-19 crisis. I value your contribution to our economic and cultural life and I will fight to protect your rights. You are welcome, you are valued and we want you to stay with us and be part of our community to unleash the potential of this borough and cultivate an inclusive economy that benefits all.
Next week will see an important milestone in the delivery of the manifesto commitments that I made two years ago to the people of Newham to transform Newham Council, it’s governance arrangements and the involvement of residents.
When I stood to become Mayor in May 2018, I set out a bold vision for this borough to become a beacon of participatory democracy in the UK. I pledged to bring a culture of trust and openness that involves residents in our decision-making. On Monday the independent Democracy and Civic Participation Commission that I established to review how the Council works and to make recommendations about how we drive participatory democracy in Newham, will publish its report. You can join the launch at 2.30pm on Monday via Facebook where members of the Commission, led by its chair Professor Nick Pearce, will outline the work that they’ve undertaken and the series of recommendations they’ve arrived at.
Also next week we publish a paper that is being presented to Cabinet on how we propose to act on the recommendations made by residents who took part earlier this year in our Citizens' Assembly themed sessions around the climate emergency. I met with some of those who took part virtually today to thank them for their great ideas and enthusiasm and agree how we can work together to address the challenge of the climate emergency and build a sustainable future for us all. This is a real example of participatory democracy in action to improve the health and wellbeing of everyone in Newham.
There is some welcome news to bring you. Following a review of operations, London’s Strategic Coordination Group, the multi-agency partnership advising on much of the Capital’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, is to remove the temporary mortuary facility built on Wanstead Flats in Manor Park in March to cope with the increase in fatalities as a result of coronavirus.
Work to remove the temporary structure may begin as soon as the weekend. While we all would have preferred never to have seen the need for such a facility, we can all appreciate that sadly, it was necessary. I have asked those responsible to keep to their commitment to restore the site to how it was before. I sincerely hope that we do not have to see the like of it again.
As we approach what will be a busy weekend, please remember that Covid-19 has not gone away, it is still with us and we can’t allow it to get a second hold in Newham because of the vulnerabilities and risks in our borough. Whatever your plans, please keep safe and stick to applying social distance with people around you and continue to follow all the personal hygiene measures that remain in place. Stay safe.
Best wishes.
Rokhsana Fiaz OBE
Mayor of Newham
Read more Covid-19 updates from Mayor Fiaz or follow her on Twitter @rokhsanafiaz