I?m pleased to see that cases of Covid-19 are starting to stabilise in our city. That?s good news, but we have to keep working together to reduce the spread of the virus so we can keep people safe. This will be especially true as we move closer towards winter, when the NHS is already under huge amounts of pressure. We don?t want to add large numbers of Covid cases to this. We also want to avoid the huge increase in cases that we saw this time last year that led to tighter restrictions over the autumn and winter ? and resulted in another lockdown.

I would urge everyone to continue to think about the positive action they can take every day to make a difference in Nottingham.

• Follow ?hands/face/space/fresh air? ? you should wear a face covering in busy indoor spaces such as shops, supermarkets and on public transport.
• Aged 12 - 100, please get vaccinated as soon as you can, whether it is your first, second or booster jab.
• Test regularly for Covid and, if you have symptoms, you should self-isolate and book a free PCR test straight away. Booking a test is easy, visit gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test

Let?s all do our bit to keep going in Nottingham. Let?s look after ourselves, look after each other and look after our city.

It was great to see the first of the new super energy efficient wall panels being craned in and installed on council homes in Sneinton this week. Twelve homes, including five houses and seven bungalows on Keswick Street are benefitting from the improvement works that will increase energy efficiency and reduce heating and energy costs for residents.

This project is the latest phase of the award winning and pioneering Energiesprong scheme, where Nottingham City Homes and Nottingham City Council are turning hard-to-heat council homes into net zero energy homes and is part of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funded Deep Retrofit Energy Model (DREeM)?project. In total 138 homes across the city will be fitted with various green measures under this scheme, including new energy efficient heating and hot water systems, super insulated wall panels, solar panels and solar batteries.

Homes, and especially older homes, account for a large proportion of carbon emissions so tackling this helps us towards our ambitious target of becoming carbon neutral by 2028 and importantly increase the warmth and well-being while reducing energy bills for the people who live there.

Find out more

It's Libraries Week,?an annual showcase and celebration of the best that libraries have to offer.? This year?s theme is?Taking Action, Changing Lives?and Nottingham City Libraries are highlighting just a few of the great projects that are running; that in some cases are literally changing lives.?

• Our Storytime Dads programme gives selected prisoners the chance to read stories to their children and reconnect with them whilst inside HMP Nottingham
• Local Studies have digitalised much of their collection, making it more accessible than ever before to the people of Nottingham
• Four new local Business & IP Centres will be opening up across Nottinghamshire in October, enabling us to support more business owners, investors and start-ups.

Find out more about these exciting initiatives here: Nottingham city libraries - libraries-week ?

Find out more about the national campaign here Libraries Week website; they are asking people to share their library photos and stories with the hashtags #ShareTheChange and #LibrariesWeek to celebrate libraries and inspire others to use them.

It?s with great reluctance that we have announced the cancellation of another major Nottingham event due to Covid ? the Bonfire and Fireworks display scheduled to normally take place at The Forest on November 5^th. It?s a free event organised in partnership with the Mellors Group which is very popular ? usually attracting around 40,000 people. The Council and Mellors are concerned visitors could not be safely managed on and off the site, which was a large part of the difficult decision to cancel Goose Fair at The Forest in August. Unlike some cities which host a Bonfire Night celebration within a gated venue, like a sports ground where numbers can be controlled, access to the Forest is completely open. I understand people will be disappointed, but public safety is the over-riding factor in our decision-making. We sincerely hope that the situation will be markedly different next year and we can bring this popular event back to The Forest.

In happier news, although Goose Fair won?t be going ahead, we have arranged for Goosey the Goose Fair goose to take up position in the Old Market Square on Thursday. The popular eight-foot emblem of the fair, whose appearance on ?Goose Fair roundabout? on Mansfield Road normally marks the imminent opening of the fair, will be in the Square to witness the ceremonial ringing of the Goose Fair bell at noon by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham, Councillor Dave Trimble. When this happened for the same reasons last year, people loved seeing her on her special plinth - and we hope this will happen again.