As Surrey County Councillor for Haslemere, I am receiving updates about Covid-19 from various organisations. Here is a summary of updates for services affecting Haslemere.
HASLEMERE HELP
A community group in Haslemere has been set up to help those in self isolation. This help can be offered for anything including shopping, posting mail, prescription collections or simply a friendly phone call. The number to call is 07873 383954. There is also a Facebook page where you can ask for help or offer to volunteer. www.facebook.com/haslemerehelp . The e-mail address is haslemerehelp@gmail.com.
If you are a member of a residents’ association, this is a template you could use to offer support in your street.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE continue to support our local businesses. They are the lifeblood of the town. Many are changing the way they are doing business in order to deliver goods whilst keep residents safe.
HASLEMERE FOOD BANK is providing vital support for families in need. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE consider adding one or two items in your shop or dropping off donations at The Methodist Church on Wednesdays or Fridays between 10am and 12pm. Items include shampoo, toilet rolls, custard, couscous, milk, drinking chocolate, tinned vegetables (peas, carrots, corn), tinned meat, tinned spaghetti, tinned pasta (ravioli, macaroni), tinned fruit, coffee. tinned soup. Cereal is in over-supply at the food bank and hard to store so, please do not buy this item for now. Contact the food bank here.
GOVERNMENT ADVICE
Link: Stay at home: guidance for households with possible coronavirus (COVID-19) infection
SURREY COUNTY COUNCIL
Dedicated Surrey County Council Coronavirus website
Haslemere Library has closed due to its having a deep clean and will remain closed for the foreseeable future. Online services remain open. Library card holders can access:
WAVERLEY BOROUGH COUNCIL
Covid-19: Joint statement from Waverley’s political leaders and the chief executive, issued today.
The political leaders and the chief executive of Waverley Borough Council have agreed to use its resources to prioritise the immediate health, wellbeing and safety of local residents – especially the vulnerable – in its plan to support the community through the Coronavirus challenge.
The council’s benefits, community meals, support to local businesses, homelessness, critical housing tenant support, and waste collection services will be prioritised to ensure that those who are most in need are supported during this difficult time for the borough, and for the nation.
We recognise the hardship facing our borough’s struggling businesses and will implement the new scheme for business rate relief as soon as we have the Government’s criteria.
We will also prioritise our support to the National Health Service and to Surrey County Council, with its responsibilities for adult and child care services. We welcome Surrey County Council’s decision to establish a single contact centre for vulnerable people. We will work with them and the voluntary sector to ensure its effectiveness – ensuring those people who kindly offer their time and support to help those in need do so in a safe and co-ordinated way.
To do all this, those aspects of the council’s business that do not directly support this immediate objective will be suspended or scaled down, so that staff can be deployed to our critical priority services. This means our work on Part 2 of the Local Plan, leisure centre refurbishment plans and formal committee meetings will be deferred until 30 June. While the council remains hard at work, with many of our staff working from home, the offices at The Burys in Godalming will be closed to the general public from Monday, 23 March, with special provision for homelessness and welfare visits. The Memorial Hall in Farnham and the Borough Hall in Godalming are also closed.
Further detail and decisions about council services and support will follow in the coming days. Check our website for the latest updates: www.waverley.gov.uk/coronavirus.
The council’s Executive and Opposition leaders will continue to teleconference regularly with the senior officers as we implement our response and recovery plans.
We are conscious that our staff members and our councillors are also personally feeling the impact of the virus and the national recovery plan, just as our residents are. As a consequence, our capacity is reduced and will face further challenges in the coming weeks. We are proud of our staff and councillor team, and grateful for the diligent, hard work they have already put into tackling Coronavirus and supporting the people of Waverley.
SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY
South Western Railway publishes a revised timetable from 23 March 2020, Form the MD:
SWR will reduce the number of services it will be running from Monday 23 March, following the Government’s announcement urging people to avoid all but essential travel in order to help limit the spread of the highly contagious COVID-19 virus.
The spread of the COVID-19 means like at most other organisations, more of our staff are having to follow advice to stay at home unwell and self-isolate for up to 14 days.
By reducing the number of trains running, we can focus on ensuring a reliable timetable for passengers who still have to travel, especially healthcare professionals, police and fire service workers.
We are asking all passengers to follow the Government’s advice to avoid all but essential travel. But those passengers who do have to use our services should check before they travel.
Our colleagues on the front line are working very hard to ensure that those who need to travel get to where they need to be, when they need to be there, and the rest of the business is focusing on supporting them.
For more information about what else we’re doing to help stop the spread of coronavirus, please visit: www.southwesternrailway.com/coronavirus
Thank you in advance for your support during these very difficult times.