Welcome to our latest update, responding to developments since Friday 17 July - but we're not going to attempt to summarise the latest government guidance since it will have changed by the time we've typed this up….

Borough and County update re COVID-19:

• The latest case numbers for the Borough from ONS stand at 339, up from 336 since our last update 2 weeks ago. Just 3 new cases in that period is very good compared to the UK as a whole where the daily new case numbers have increased from 560 on 23^rd July to 846 on 30^th July
• Surrey County Council is FINALLY sharing information with the Borough on a weekly basis.
• At the Council meeting on the 21^st David asked about the plans to spend the £72k from the EU Regional Development Fund - which is earmarked for public safety improvements. Sadly the RA response consisted of negative comments about the EU and no clear plans. We will keep pushing.
• Those of you in Ewell may have been aware of the County's plans to install a "Bus Gate" to restrict cars in the High Street and encourage pedestrians. But it was very badly thought through and Andrej (the third member of our College Ward Focus team) organised a petition whereupon SCC backed off.
• With the fall in cases, the Council has "stood down" the Community Hub which was providing dedicated support to those affected by the virus.
• We have previously highlighted the Council's role in ensuring local organisations get the grants available to them. Unfortunately, this doesn't always seem to be working as required and Julie is helping one Church that has been poorly treated. Let us know of any other similar cases.

Welcome to our latest update, responding to developments since Friday 3 July, during which time our esteemed MP managed to lose a rigged election, and the Tories couldn't decide whether Pret was a shop or a restaurant.

Anyway, onto our list of updates:

Borough and County update re COVID-19:

• There have been media reports about a rise in the infection rate in the Borough from 1.3 to 5.0 per 100,000. Although this is on the surface alarming, it actually means 4 people in the Borough have tested positive in the week. The low absolute rate of infection coupled with our small population does mean that the figures will vary week on week. Still, BE SAFE !
• You may have seen press articles about our Council's loss of revenue from their commercial property portfolio. For EEBC, the exposure is limited but some allowance for loss of rent has already been included in the figures in our last update (deficit for first quarter £2m).
• Sadly, our Borough does not seem to be immune from the national increase in domestic violence.
• The Rainbow Centre has announced a phased reopening from 25 July - booking essential.
• Our local public toilets are also due to reopen on Monday 20 July, although I understand the information about this will only go up on the EEBC website next week.

Figures published by Surrey County Council and available on the Surrey-I website have revealed a huge rise in the cost of senior officer pay in just 12 months.

The information published by the authority in accordance with the Local Government Transparency Code 2015 has revealed that the number of its officers earning over £50,000 has increased from 407 in 2018/19 to 558 in 2019/20. The number of those being paid between £50,000 - 54,999 has increased from 127 to 212. A greater increase is seen in the £60,000 - £64,999 pay bracket where the number of officers has jumped from 49 to 154. In total the pay bill for all senior employees has risen by around £10m.

Welcome to our latest update, responding to developments since our last update on Friday 19 June. We've not attempted to try and summarise the current rules or guidance around COVID-19 since, well, we are just as confused as everyone! However we hope the following is of interest.

Borough and County update re COVID-19:

Dear members & supporters, I have just received this email in my role as a Borough Councillor - thought many of you would be interested.

David

From: SURREYHEARTLANDSCCGS, Comms (NHS NORTH WEST SURREY CCG) <comms.surreyheartlandsccgs@nhs.net>
Date: 26 June 2020 at 12:01:00 BST
Subject: IHT Update: Health leaders set to decide on investing £500 million in new hospital and existing buildings


Health leaders set to decide on investing £500 million in new hospital and existing buildings

Dear colleague,

We are writing to let you know that next week health leaders are set to make a decision on proposals to invest £500 million to improve hospitals for more than 700,000 people in Surrey, Sutton, and Merton.

The governing bodies of NHS South West London and NHS Surrey Heartlands Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) will meet virtually due to coronavirus social distancing rules on Friday 3 July 2020 11.00am - 2.00pm<https://improvinghealthcaretogether.org.uk/next-steps/improving-healthcare-together-committees-in-common-friday-3-july-2020/> to decide whether to locate the new specialist emergency care hospital on the Epsom, St Helier or Sutton hospital sites. They are considering feedback from the public consultation which ran from 8 January to 1 April this year alongside all other evidence which is included in the decision-making business case.

Today we have published the decision- making business case which is available along with the meeting agenda on the Improving Healthcare Together website here<https://improvinghealthcaretogether.org.uk/document/draft-decision-making-business-case/>. This follows our recent publication of independent analysis of the feedback<https://improvinghealthcaretogether.org.uk/document/independent-analysis-of-feedback-from-consultation-report/> received during the public consultation which can be found here<https://improvinghealthcaretogether.org.uk/document/independent-analysis-of-feedback-from-consultation-report/>. This revealed that on balance across all strands of the consultation Sutton received more support as the preferred site for the new facility.

Under the CCGs' proposals, the majority of people will see no change to where they receive their hospital care but would be treated in buildings that meet 21st century healthcare standards.

The plans include bringing six core services together for the sickest patients needing more specialist care and births in hospital on one site in a new purpose-built specialist emergency care hospital. This will enable the hospitals to meet clinical standards and improve the quality and outcome of care for all residents.
Regardless of where the new hospital is located, at least £80 million would be invested in Epsom and St Helier Hospitals, which would retain the majority of services and be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year with urgent treatment centres operating at both.

Given the current circumstances, it feels more important than ever that we continue this programme to secure the right healthcare services for local people. We have an opportunity to build a state-of-the-art hospital with more single rooms for better infection control housing a range of specialists working together which will benefit patients every day.

Members of the public, who will be able to watch the Committees in Common meeting via a link that will be published on Wednesday 1 July the Improving Healthcare Together website, and have until 12 midday on Wednesday 1 July to submit a question to the panel relating to items on the agenda that has just been published here<https://improvinghealthcaretogether.org.uk/next-steps/improving-healthcare-together-committees-in-common-friday-3-july-2020/> on the website. Members of the public can submit questions by:

* Emailing: hello@improvinghealthcaretogether.org.uk<mailto:hello@improvinghealthcaretogether.org.uk>
* Calling: 020 3880 0271
* Texting: 07500 063 191

All questions received will be shared with Committees in Common members and published on the IHT website in advance of the meeting. The questions received will be clustered by theme. The Committees in Common Convenor will select a question from each cluster that is most representative of the issues. Only one question would be selected from any individual or on behalf of any organisation to allow the consideration of as many questions as possible within the time allocated.

We have also invited local politicians, local authority representatives and Keep Our St Helier Hospital to share with us any final written statements including any additional information which was not previously submitted as part of their original responses to the public consultation. The deadline for statements is 12 midday on Wednesday 1 July and should be sent to hello@improvinghealthcaretogether.org.uk<mailto:hello@improvinghealthcaretogether.org.uk>. Any written statements received will be published on our website in preparation for the meeting.
It is important to stress that under any of the proposals most services will stay where they are now and once a final decision is made there will be at least five years to work with communities to ensure the newly built and refurbished existing hospitals work seamlessly together.

We are grateful to everyone who took part in our consultation - we have and will look at all those views and all the evidence to help us make this hugely important decision on 3 July.
Yours sincerely,

Dr Andrew Murray, GP and Clinical Chair at NHS South West London CCG,

Dr Charlotte Canniff, GP and Clinical Chair at NHS Surrey Heartlands CCG.

Paul Kennedy, a Mole Valley councillor and Liberal Democrat candidate to be Surrey's next Police and Crime Commissioner, has called on David Munro, the current PCC, to give Surrey Police extra resources to address the increasing problems caused by visitors to our beauty spots during the lockdown.

The call comes after the A24 near Denbies was used as a car meet for two weekends running, with little police interference. Drivers showed off their modified vehicles by speeding and driving inconsiderately, narrowly missing other vehicles, and firing noisy and polluting exhausts. This follows similar problems with motorbikes racing, and meets in other parts of the county.

Welcome to our latest update, using developments since our last update on Friday 5th June.

Borough and County update re COVID-19:

• There will be a Strategy & Resources Committee on 2nd July to discuss the financial implications for the Council of COVID-19. David is a member of this Committee and will report back any (non-confidential) information.
• The Council has been allocated significant funding from the European Union Regional Development Fund to help with the costs of the re-opening of the High Street. It now has to work out how to spend it appropriately.
• It has also been allocated £300k under the Council Tax Hardship fund. In our view this scheme hasn't been very well advertised so if you know of people who might benefit please let them know.
• 13 rough sleepers have been accommodated but it is unclear what future arrangements will be for them.
• According to the ONS there have been 77 Covid-19 related deaths in Epsom & Ewell up to 5 June. The spike in mortality is illustrated by the age standardised mortality for the Borough moving from 8.8 per 10,000 in March, increasing to 15.2 in April then falling to 5.5 in May. Source: ONS https://bit.ly/2Yd62To and https://bit.ly/2AQDy93
• The Surrey County Council libraries are planning on reopening on 6 July.