Many council services were scaled back or stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic – and large number kept going – and there is now a priority plan to start returning to normal service.

Pembrokeshire County Council’s gold command and organisational recovery cell, which includes the council leader, cabinet member finance and member for transformation, has agreed a prioritisation for restoration of services plan.

This has given core services “priority status” said director of resources Jon Haswell, and includes the reopening of schools, catering and transport, social care, contact tracing and waste collection and disposal.

It was referred to at Tuesday’s (June 30) corporate overview and scrutiny committee.

Other “critical” services and functions include the crematorium, fly tipping, sign unit, building maintenance emergency response, trading standards, food safety and standards, harbour operations, planning, legal and democratic services.

A descending scale of priority, from amber, green to black, shows what services need to be reinstated and what level they currently function such as highways assessment, traffic management, street lighting maintenance, street cleaning, learning and development and marriages and civil partnerships.

Head of emergency planning and civil contingencies Richard Brown said that the situation was changeable and positions may be reassessed, with the local lockdown in Leicester a potential scenario in any area.

Any further lockdown measures would be managed by the police and it was not clear yet how it would be implement here if it were necessary, whether it would be on a Pembrokeshire, west Wales or south Wales basis, the committee heard.

“The Leicester lockdown and the management of that is going to be an interesting case study, it’s a sharp learning curve for us,” said Mr. Brown, in response to questions from Clr. Michael John about increased visitors and a potential second wave of Covid-19 cases.

“We need to be thinking long term about adaptation, it’s how we live with the disease and get back to some sort of normality,” he added.

It would be a “stop and start process,” which would be a challenge and not a linear process.