The global Covid-19 pandemic has had profound impacts on all aspects of life: healthcare, the economy, our communities, our way of life and individuals' well-being.The pandemic has shown our commun...
The global Covid-19 pandemic has had profound impacts on all aspects of life: healthcare, the economy, our communities, our way of life and individuals' well-being.
The pandemic has shown our communities and local public services at their best: innovating to work in new ways; making better use of data and digital service delivery; collaborating more strongly; and unleashing the creativity, passion and common purpose of our people.
The pandemic has created immediate issues and risks which need careful management, but we have an opportunity to build back stronger and better. Recovery must support long-term action to address climate change, while ensuring a growing and sustainable economy can fund investment in public services and a more sustainable future.
As we begin our recovery from the pandemic, we will not return to how things were; together, we commit to ensure Warwickshire emerges stronger and to protect future generations by applying positive lessons from the pandemic.
Recovery will neither be a straightforward nor a linear process; we may move back into a 'response' mode if there are further peaks in the virus. We know the economic impacts will be profound and long-term. We will help individuals rebuild, and reinforce confident, resilient and sustainable communities. We will focus our joint work around the following objectives:
1. to drive economic recovery, business growth and regeneration, supporting sectors with the highest growth potential and also those most negatively impacted such as tourism; working with the education and training sectors, we will build skills to get people into work, training or new careers;
2. to recover in a way which helps address the climate change emergency, and sets Warwickshire up for a more sustainable, low carbon future;
3. to improve health, well-being and care in Warwickshire, supporting those most vulnerable and ensuring long-term improvement in population health;
4. to harness, and build upon our thriving voluntary and community sectors as a central part of making Warwickshire a great place to live;
5. to restore services and school provision safely, protecting staff, service users and the public; and
6. to ensure our organisations and services are strong, sustainable and fit for the future.
We are committed to working with our public, private and voluntary sector partners along with individual citizens to develop a stronger county after Covid-19, working at various levels:
- we will be engaged at national level in shaping the UK's recovery;
- our work will be part of regional efforts across the West Midlands and Warwickshire, and will align our work to the Combined Authority's recovery principles;
- sub-regionally, we will work with our partners in the natural economic geography of Coventry and Warwickshire; - we will address strategic issues across the County through close collaboration between the County, District and Borough Councils, our NHS and Police partners, businesses and the voluntary and community sector; and
- our district, borough, town and parish councils will play a critical role shaping local places, high streets, public spaces and business estates.
Our joint work on recovery will be:
- flexible, dynamic and responsive as circumstances evolve;
- positive and innovative;
- rooted in our communities, engaging with them to develop our thinking;
- aligned with existing structures wherever possible, enhancing the strong relationships that characterise Warwickshire;
- collaborative, co-ordinated, and enabling progress at pace; and
- maximising our collective skills and resources.