Minutes:
Councillor Miscandlon said that members will have received by email a copy of the updated committee list showing the changes that have taken place since the commencement of the municipal year, which are simply to note, with the information having been updated on the website. Also, there will be a continuation of the exception to Rule 19 in that members are requested to please remain seated whilst addressing the meeting.
Councillor Miscandlon then made the following announcement:
“It is with great pleasure to welcome ex-councillor Ralph Butcher to this Chamber who joins us today with his wife, Pat. As you will recall, following a motion on 23 February this year, it was agreed that what had previously been known as the Kings Dyke crossing would be officially named as the Ralph Butcher Causeway. This decision reflects the continuous and tireless determination of Ralph to get this bridge constructed. He fought for this for over forty years. I congratulate him and everyone in this Chamber wishes to thank him for that”.
Councillor Miscandlon then presented Ralph Butcher with a certificate as a token of appreciation and recognition of his contribution to this great achievement.
Ralph Butcher said there were many people he would like to thank. He was first elected to the local council in 1971, 50 years ago and that is when we first talked about the bridge. Over all those years there have been many councillors, some of whom are here today, and officers who have done a lot of work on this bridge and he thanked everybody for all their help over the years.
Mrs Butcher then received a presentation of flowers from Councillor Miscandlon and Ralph Butcher stated that all councillors should know that without the help of their partners, you can never get the job done properly anyway.
Following the presentation the Chief Executive, Paul Medd then made the following announcement:
“I am delighted to announce that the Council has once again been reaccredited for Customer Service Excellence.
CSE is a national standard that recognises public bodies that provide customer-focused, high quality, excellent services. Fenland is one of the few councils that have consistently achieved this rigorous standard for all its services.
Following an assessment in June, the CSE assessor was highly complementary of the Council’s emphasis on continuing to deliver excellent customer focused services, especially in view of the Covid-19 pandemic and associated restrictions.
In the final report our assessor said: “It is clear that Fenland has managed the Covid-19 pandemic situation exceptionally well. There was the potential for a significant dip in performance, but Fenland has prevented this through its actions. Since the last review, the Council has increased its efforts to manage the impact of the pandemic”.
The assessor added that: “The Council has played a key role in bringing together and coordinating all the relevant partners to address Covid-19 related needs in Fenland. As a result, residents benefit from many services, including some pioneering, ground-breaking initiatives.
The assessor also noted the following strengths:
· The My Fenland transformation project, which is all about improving the customer journey, has delivered significant benefits to customers, with new and improved access channels including online taxi licence renewals and missed bin enquiries.
· Staff are empowered to deliver excellent services, which has been further enhanced and facilitated by an innovative training programme.
· The Council has increased its interaction with wider communities, including working with travellers and migrant communities to pioneer vaccination promotion. Support has also been given to the Rosmini Centre in Wisbech, enabling it to remain open and continue as an essential conduit for migrants.
As a learning organisation the Council is always keen to identify opportunities for continual improvement, and the areas we would like to focus on for development will be around building on our existing channels to engage with customers and maximise their feedback and the future development of web chat functionality”.
Paul Medd invited Councillor Steve Tierney, Portfolio Holder for Transformation, Communication and Environment, to receive the CSE certificate on behalf of the Council from Councillor Miscandlon.
Councillor Tierney said he wanted to make it very clear that whilst accepting the award on behalf of the staff, the amazing hard work during a couple of difficult years that has led to this point has been done entirely by the staff and he wanted to thank every one of them.