A message from the Leader and Chief Executive

Hello everyone,

We hope that you, your families and loved ones are safe and well as we continue to live through the Covid-19 pandemic.

We’re writing today to thank and pay tribute to all of our staff, residents and volunteers who have been working so hard to see us through the biggest social and public health crisis in our lifetimes.

At the start of the Covid lockdown in the United Kingdom, as our services and the businesses of Denbighshire shut down for what ended up being a period of months rather than weeks, our entire operations as a Council turned to focus on keeping our residents safe, protecting our most vulnerable, supporting our businesses and communities and keeping our most vital services running.

Many of our staff switched to our community calling scheme, phoning everyone on the Welsh Government’s shielding list, plus many other older or more vulnerable residents, checking to see if they were okay and offering help with shopping and collection of medications, which local voluntary groups were able to provide. Many others took up other roles that were way outside of their normal jobs, such as working in social care or helping us to source Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for front line workers, and administering and paying grants to businesses. Many other members of staff simply continued to do their jobs, both at the front line and working from their home offices, all focussed on doing what our Council does best – supporting our residents and communities. As the lockdown began to ease, we set up the test, trace and protect (TTP) service, initially with volunteers within the Council and the service continues to perform well. We are really proud of what the Council has achieved, during the spring/ summer lockdown, the recent firebreak and all throughout this period. I would like to thank them, and recognise, all their hard work, whatever their role.

We would also like to thank those of you in our communities who stepped up too to help our more vulnerable residents. Existing community groups stepped forward to help people who were self-isolating with shopping and other essential help and support, including food banks and food parcels. Many of our residents volunteered to help - a big success, and one we would like to continue is our telephone befriending service, where volunteers, including some of our elected members and staff, gave up their own time to reach out to those isolated by Covid. We have had really positive feedback about our community work and we are very happy that we have been able to make a difference.

Sadly, we are not yet at the end of the pandemic and it seems there is still some way to go; however, it isn’t too early to think about what our Council might look like on the ‘other side’. Important priorities for us will be helping our businesses and communities to recover and in learning lessons from how we responded to Covid, looking at how we can work more closely with and alongside our communities and residents. We’ve also learnt that many of us can work in a completely different and more flexible way, and this will fit well alongside our forthcoming Climate Change Strategy, where we will set out how the Council will tackle this important subject and preserve the beauty of our County for generations to come.

We will end by thanking you all once again and wishing you, however you spend it, a peaceful Christmas and New Year, and the hope that that New Year will bring an end to the Covid pandemic

 Hugh Evans OBE - Leader / Judith Greenhalgh - Chief Executive