Yesterday, Bridgend Council held its monthly meeting – which can be viewed here.
Councillors have discovered virtual backgrounds, most of which seemed to be of Switzerland. I don’t know if Cllr. David White (Lab, Newcastle) – pictured above – was launching a doom metal album or not, though I’m fairly sure the orange flare in the forest behind him is a distress signal….
For as long as I’m able to cover full council meetings (pre-pandemic, they weren’t routinely broadcast), I’ll focus on questions to the council (which starts at around 1:49:40 in the video).
Care home residents “top priority” to receive Covid-19 vaccine
The Q&A session began with an urgent question from Cllr. Alex Williams (Ind, Penprysg) on Covid-19 vaccinations – given recent comments from the First Minister over delays to vaccinations.
In a conversation with a GP, he was told their practice received just a third of the promised number of vaccines last Friday and they could no longer vaccinate all over-80s registered at the practice.
Cllr. Williams also raised possible preventable deaths at care homes caused by vaccination delays.
Council Leader, Cllr. Huw David (Lab, Cefn Cribwr), said as of 17th January, there had been 17 vaccination visits to care homes. Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board has committed to visiting all care homes by the end of the month, using the Pfizer vaccine administered by mobile vaccinations teams.
By next week, there’ll be four community vaccination centres across the Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board area running 9 am – 5 pm seven days a week. There have been over 1,000 offers to volunteer in the vaccination programme within the health board area.
The main risk is the ongoing supply of vaccines. The Pfizer vaccine, in particular, has extraordinary storage requirements (such as being kept at -70C), so it wasn’t as easy for GPs to administer it. Care homes remain the top priority, but there will be an issue with ongoing outbreaks at care homes.
Cllrs. Malcolm James (Plaid, Llangynwyd) and Brian Jones (Ind, Porthcawl East Central) asked supplementary questions on the number of vaccination centres (Cllr. James claimed there was only one in Bridgend county, but five in the Taff valley) and vaccination procedures for those who are shielding.
The Leader repeated that four vaccination centres will be running in Bridgend shortly, while a pilot with GPs in the Maesteg area will start this weekend for administering the Pfizer vaccine.
Arrangements will be made for those who are shielding so they can be vaccinated at home (by district nurses or GP practice home visits), though the preference is for as many people as possible to travel to vaccination centres.
Only two of Bridgend’s speed and red light cameras are working
Cllr. Matthew Voisey (Con, Oldcastle) noted that only 2 of 10 speed and red light cameras were working in the county. He was concerned that drivers were ignoring them and asked for a timetable as to when they would be brought back into working order – one camera in particular (I’m not going to say which one, for obvious reasons).
Cllr. John Spanswick (Lab, Brackla) thought the question was irresponsible as the public will now know they can ignore the bulk of the cameras and will be more likely to.
Cabinet Member for Communities, Cllr. Richard Young (Lab, Pendre) said there were ongoing negotiations to bring them back into use. The reason why they’re not working was mainly to do with the age of cameras.
As for the question itself, he believed it was in order and deserving of an answer. The cameras remain a deterrent just by being there, so it was right not to say which cameras were not working.
Having run out of time, two additional questions were rolled over to the next full council meeting.
