This week marks the first anniversary of the UK wide national lockdown announced on March 23, 2020. Weeks later than other European countries, it was back in March 2020 that the Conservative government issued a short notice order to “stay at home” that would see many lives completely upturned.

On Wednesday I joined many the length and breadth of the country with end-of-life charity Marie Curie commemorating a national day of reflection. We mourn and remember the 449 in our city who have already died from Covid-19 and the 126,000 nationally. But I am also angry that so many have had to die at all. The pain of knowing that many deaths were completely needless and preventable will not go away. And we vow to continue to fight for those left in its wake.

A year on and statistics tell us what the government shamefully already knew – that Covid-19 was already spreading fast in the community and a plan for “herd immunity” would only cause more deaths. At the critical early stages of the pandemic, when scientists were still uncovering facts about the virus, many frontline staff were without the support they desperately needed. We had the scandal of nurses forced to use bin bags as protective equipment, helping the Prime Minister to stay alive, who repaid their efforts with a derisory one per cent pay rise. Billions have been spent on a test and trace system that was good for lining the pockets of Conservative Party donors but not detecting Covid cases.

We have suffered one of the highest death tolls of any country and our economy has been one of the worst affected. Many individuals lost their jobs and with that housing and food. Rapid discharge of patients with Covid-19 into care homes allowed the virus to spread among some of our most vulnerable.

So I am clear: despite the colossal efforts of so many on the frontline and their tremendous progress in developing a vaccine, we cannot allow lessons from this early period of handling a health crisis to be lost.

This is precisely why Greens are supporting bereaved families in their push for a national inquiry into the response to the Covid-19 pandemic. To truly honour those who have died, it’s vital plans are put in place at both a national and local level to ensure society is prepared not only to detect, but prevent another pandemic – and its disastrous socio-economic consequences.

There are many remaining hurdles and the pandemic is still very much with us. So we are approaching the road map with cautious optimism, and by definition every stage of the government’s plan introduces more social mixing and that in turn increases risk. That means we all have a duty to each other to continue safe social distancing to keep infections low. It’s not only public health workers, but event organisers and our brilliant local businesses who also need to know the virus is being well controlled.

As I’ve written before, this summer signals an easing of lockdown restrictions and the prospect of improved circumstances for many particularly in our tourism sector. Yet with international travel restricted, we will prepare for greater numbers of people coming to Brighton and Hove. While we remain hopeful that the city can reopen safely, we are focused on being as prepared as possible to both welcome back visitors and keep people safe. So this week we’ve published our plans to create a new group tasked with this, including police and emergency services, the council’s seafront and parks teams, highways, Cityclean and environmental health among others, who will meet weekly to plan ahead, respond to issues and share intelligence and expertise. We are ramping up training for businesses to support them with opening, jet washing our busiest streets clean, commencing additional waste collection services along our busy seafront, recruiting a full lifeguard service and looking at how we can increase the number of public toilets available. We will also strengthen action on illegal parking, antisocial behaviour and littering.

Keeping a close eye on health and safety, our hope is that our much-loved events will be able to make a Covid-safe return – and working alongside event organisers and blue light services, support is in place to help.

I am in no doubt our city will come under immense pressure in the months ahead.

Yet after a difficult year, we are working tirelessly to support a safe reopening for our city.

This is so that reflecting on a year of grief and trauma can truly bring with it much-needed hope for the future and optimism that with the turning of seasons spring will come to the city.