It was disappointing to hear that Nottingham is to stay in Tier 3 yesterday following the first national review of the tier system since the second lockdown. It has been a hard year for all of us ? we had hoped that moving to Tier 2 would be a step in the right direction for returning to a more normal life. In particular, this will be hard news for the hospitality sector ? our pubs and restaurants ? that must now continue to remain closed.

However disappointing this is for some local businesses I understand why the decision has been made to keep our city at the Very High alert level. While we have seen a huge drop in the number of cases of Covid-19 since October, we know that the virus is still present in our communities ? and we have started to see a small rise in positive cases again this week. We also know that Covid-19 continues to put pressure on our hospitals.

It is important that we do all we can to stick to the rules and stop the spread of the virus. At all times, I would ask people to continue to follow the guidance of ?hands, face, space?.

People who have symptoms of Covid-19 ? high temperature, continuous cough or loss of taste or smell ? must self-isolate immediately and book a test online or by calling 119. If you are self-isolating in Nottingham and do not have friends or family locally who can offer support with food shopping and collecting medicines, then please do contact our Customer Hub 0115 915 5555, or visit Help for residents who are self-isolating

Our schools have now broken up for Christmas. They have worked tirelessly during the Covid-19 pandemic. I can?t praise them enough for their ongoing efforts. Not only did they stay open during the initial lockdown to the children of key workers, but they also supported children with online learning. School staff have also ensured that since September, schools have been able to open and close classes and year groups depending on positive cases of Covid-19. They have managed this process incredibly well and deserve our thanks at this difficult time.

I welcome news this week that testing for Covid-19 will be carried out in secondary schools when pupils return in the new year. It is important we do all we can to keep our pupils and staff safe. We will work closely with head teachers over the next few weeks to support them to implement the testing in January.

I?m delighted that the outstanding efforts of our workers have been recognised at the national? Association for Public Service Excellence Awards. Our Parks, Grounds & Horticulture and Transport & Fleet Maintenance teams were named as Best Service Teams of the Year in their categories. Council staff have worked extremely hard for the people of Nottingham this year throughout a global pandemic, in partnership with colleagues across other public-sector organisations. I would like to thank these teams for their exemplary efforts, and four other teams who were award finalists, and for all our frontline staff who have shown so magnificently throughout past few months how dedicated they are to providing the best possible service to the people of Nottingham. Find out more here

This week we held a Christmas celebration via zoom to acknowledge all the amazing work our fabulous Clean Champion Volunteers do throughout the year. Through this volunteering scheme local people help to keep neighbourhoods free of litter by doing tasks such as litter picks and reporting rubbish or fly tips.

Awards were presented to some of our young volunteers as well as a ?Outstanding Contribution? award to Gavin and Angie Storer from Clifton who since joining the Clean Champions in April this year have litter picked every day and collected 100?s of bags of rubbish. It was wonderful to hear from some of our younger Clean Champions who talked about wanting to stop littering to save local wildlife and animals.? We now have over 1500 volunteers who are all making a huge difference to their local areas.

Find out how to join your local Clean champions https://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/cleanchampions

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Nottingham has published the findings of a rapid review carried out on its behalf into past financial management and governance at the City Council. We fully accept the findings and will implement the recommendations in full. The report highlights many serious concerns that my team and I have been focused on tackling since I became the Leader just 18 months ago. I will never shrink from tackling the big issues on behalf of residents and my determination is stronger than ever to continue to make the stability of the council?s long-term finances and services one of my very highest priorities. The fact that I, my new team of Executive Councillors and our new chief executive were highlighted positively in the report tells me that we?re now on the right track to delivering a stronger and better council for the people of Nottingham. You can read the report and our response to it here

Earlier this week, the National Infrastructure Commission?s National Rail Assessment (NRA) proposed to scrap the full Eastern leg of HS2 and Toton hub, and to terminate the line at East Midlands Parkway. This suggests yet again that contrary to its claim to be committed to investing in the East Midlands, the Government is ignoring the needs of our region. We have spent the past five years developing detailed plans for growth based on the arrival of HS2 at Toton, creating thousands of jobs and transforming rail connections between the East Midlands, Birmingham, Leeds, the north east and Scotland. We are calling on the Government to reject these proposals and stand by their commitment to deliver HS2 in full, all the way to Leeds and Manchester. See more here

Join me online for this year?s Nottingham Civic Carol Service. Although it is a shame that we can?t do the Carol Service in person I am really pleased that we?ve found a way to capture the essence of our usual celebration at St Mary?s Church and I am delighted to be taking part and giving a reading.

The service will be available online from Sunday 20th December, 6pm and you can watch this on Youtube. I?d like to say a huge thank you to Nottingham?s schools, choirs & our Faith Leaders from different religions who have come together to reflect and celebrate