Wetherby councillors’ 2022 hopes

Covid-19 – a return to normality?

Will 2022 be the year that life returns to normal? Perhaps not the previous normality we once took for granted, but there are some early signs giving reasons to be cautiously optimistic.

The Omicron variant, while clearly highly infectious, appears to result in much more mild symptoms than previous variants.

Without wanting to appear complacent, but with vaccinations and boosters, there is every reason to be hopeful that catching Covid now, isn’t potentially as serious as it was this time last year.

Continuing Environmental Awareness

Glasgow’s COP26 may not have gone as far in making commitments to tackle climate change as some wanted, others may be of the opinion it went too far.

Whatever your view, the fact is people are now openly talking about sustainability for future generations and how to embed green initiatives into our everyday lives.

If we were all to consistently make one small change for the better, then collectively, the results would be massively beneficial for everyone.

In Wetherby, we will be continuing the focus on cleanliness in the River Wharfe in 2022 and working with stakeholders to improve the quality of our river water.

Educational Opportunities

The last 20-odd months have had an impact on young people’s education that is without understatement, unprecedented.

We must do all we can to protect education going forward to ensure there is not a lost generation within our schools and to make sure that children are offered the very best opportunities to maximise their talents, be that academic or vocational.

Travel

Travel broadens the mind, so they say. It also breaks down borders and the obstacles that hinder progress. By engaging with each other, travel will help our communities re-establish the links that have been damaged by the pandemic.

Positive Lessons Learned

If Covid has a positive element, then our community should be rightly proud of how we all stepped forward during the pandemic to ensure that the vulnerable in our midst were not left behind and ignored.

This happened time and time again – volunteering and shopping for others during the first lockdown, marshalling the vaccine sites for the jabs and the boosters.

Our thanks must go again to the army of volunteers who stepped up in all circumstances to make the vaccine and booster programmes the success they have been. There is a term from Africa – ubuntu – that can be roughly translated as ‘I am because we are’ or ‘humanity towards others’.

We hope this is one practice we will all continue in 2022 and beyond.