You?ll have been hearing a lot about the new variant of Covid-19 called ?Omicron.? A case was detected in Nottingham over the weekend and you may have seen our city feature in the national news.

New variants of Covid-19 can be alarming because we don?t always know a lot about them at first. Please be assured that our teams at Nottingham City Council are working closely with the UK Health Security Agency to identify how this new variant might be spreading.

Please remember that, regardless of the variant, there are things we can all do to keep ourselves and others safe.

The most important advice is to be aware of the symptoms of Covid-19: fever, cough and loss of taste/smell. If you have any of these symptoms, no matter how mild, you should book a PCR test and isolate from others until you get the results. This will help to stop the spread of the virus.

The Government has said that face coverings will be compulsory in shops, supermarkets and on public transport from tomorrow ? as well as in communal areas of secondary schools. We?ve been asking people to wear face coverings in Nottingham since restrictions were lifted nationally in July, so our advice remains unchanged: please continue to wear face coverings when you are in crowded or indoor public spaces.

Getting vaccinated against Covid-19 will also give you greater protection. The Government has announced today that anyone aged over 18 will now be offered booster jabs and the gap between second jabs and booster jabs will reduce from six months to three months. If you are eligible and you haven?t had your first, second or booster vaccination don?t delay. It is never too late to get your jab ? book online here.

In Nottingham, people have been great at following the rules to keep each other safe from Covid-19. We have to keep going to stop the spread of the virus. Please take care of yourself and take care of each other this winter.

A big thank you to our gritting teams for all their hard work this week. The weather turned colder earlier this year and so our teams have completed more grit runs this week than they normally do in the whole month of November!

The teams grit over 400km of road every frosty night and ensure that the roads stay safe, and that public transport and emergency services can keep moving, without having to battle the elements. There are also 200 grit bins in priority locations around the city which the team regularly refill. During cold and icy weather it is vital that we all take more care when moving around. Poor visibility and slippery conditions lead to decreased stopping distances, so we all need to give other road users more space. For more information visit - Transport Nottingham | winter travel

Yesterday I was on BBC Politics East Midlands with Geeta Pendse and the Member of Parliament for Mid-Derbyshire. HS2 was discussed and I highlighted my disappointment at the Government?s missed opportunity by not going ahead with the eastern leg of the project. I also spoke about the importance of keeping safe this Christmas and ensuring we all wear face coverings, test regularly and get vaccinated. There was also a good discussion about the City Council?s?ambitious plans to make Nottingham carbon neutral by 2028 and a feature on our ground-breaking Energiesprong Project. Insulating homes is essential to our carbon neutral goals and also helps tackle fuel poverty. We will continue to take advantage of all funding opportunities available so we can ensure as many homes in our city as possible can benefit. You can watch the full programme here Politics East Midlands - 28/11/2021

This week is the start of our in-person and online consultation sessions for the City Council?s budget 2022/23. The sessions provide an opportunity for local people to hear about the budget proposals from myself and other senior councillors and ask questions.

Councils across the country face an increasing financial challenge from the rising demand for services and lower levels of grant funding from Government. In Nottingham, the City Council is now receiving over ?100m less per year in its main Government grant compared to eight years ago. It means that difficult decisions must be made. This is a genuine consultation and none of the proposals put forward in our draft budget are set in stone. There is still uncertainty about future funding from the Government and we want to hear your views on the draft budget proposals.

You can find out more about this budget here and joining instructions about the in-person and online budget consultation events here

This week marks the beginning of the Jewish Festival of Lights.

I want to wish a happy Hanukkah to everyone celebrating in Nottingham. May the Festival of Lights bring peace and good health to you all.

?