A message from Nottinghamshire County Council Leader, Councillor Kay Cutts MBE
These are extraordinary circumstances we are facing that will impact on all aspects of our lives as we respond to the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
This emergency will test us all. We know that people will be anxious about how they will stay safe and live their lives, work and care for their families during these difficult times.
I can assure you that this council is working tirelessly to make sure that every provision is made so that the most vulnerable people are safe and receive the support and assurances they need.
We are following Government advice and whatever measures we take they will be geared towards protecting our most vulnerable residents, our local communities and our workforce. Our services will reflect advice in relation to gathering in groups and social distancing.
We are working with service providers to ensure that critical front- line services continue to be delivered to vulnerable people.
As we prioritise the most essential services for elderly, vulnerable people and our most vulnerable children we will have to divert resource away from other areas. Our workforce is having to adapt to new ways of working and learn new skills. We thank them for their resilience and hard work at this challenging time.
We remain in contact with our NHS partners, Government departments and with our District Council partners and are working together to support our communities to respond to the Pandemic in any way we can.
The Council has set aside a fund of £1million which will be used to help support the communities’ efforts to respond and provide for those who are most in need. We will provide more details of this in the coming days.
Our urgent priority for now is to make sure we continue to provide essential support through our Adults and Children’s social care functions and other public health commissioned services.
Latest update on our buildings, services and events affected
We are working hard to keep our services running and prioritising essential services to support vulnerable residents.
Following government advice to avoid social contact and large gatherings means that some of our services will unfortunately close until further notice. Please see details below:
Youth Services
Our usual group sessions will not be going ahead, however our service will continue to support individual young people through face to face meetings, by phone (or other technology).
Country Parks
Visitor facilities at Rufford Abbey, Sherwood Forest, Bestwood and Holme Pierrepont Country Parks will close this weekend until further notice. Free public access to country parks themselves will continue, and we encourage our residents to continue to visit, whilst taking note of the social distancing advice from the government.
Please check the individual country park websites for further updates and information.
Outdoor Education Centres
Our Notts Outdoors Education Centres will close from Monday 23 March until further notice. This includes Hagg Farm, St Michaels, The Mill Adventure Base, Perlethorpe, Brackenhurst and Sherwood Forest.
Libraries
All Libraries across the county will close from Monday 23 March until futher notice. This includes Archives, Arts, 16-18 Study Programme, Adult, Community and Family Learning. More information about library service disruption can be found at inspireculture.org.uk
Children’s Centres
All group activities and general public access with cease from 23 March until further notice. Individual appointments may still proceed in some locations.
Day Services
Group support through our day centres will stop from 23 March, however day care and support will continue to be provided for individuals. We are working with service users and their families to work out how best to continue the support required.
Registration Services
Anyone registering a birth or a death should do so in the usual way, you can book appointments via our website. We are communicating to all couples that have arranged upcoming weddings to consider postponing their celebration or to limit visitors.
For more information about service disruption during COVID19 please visit www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/coronavirus
A small favour from you to us Notts …
During this challenging time please, where possible and appropriate, use our online services rather than calling the Customer Service Centre. We’re receiving a high level of calls daily and want to ensure we’re able to answer urgent calls regarding vulnerable residents and our front line services.
Thank you.
Don’t forget you can also access some of our services by downloading the MyNotts app.
Want something publicising?
Don’t forget, if you have any event or item of interest for the village, just email it to webmaster@suttoncumlound.net and our resident website monitor will do his best to accommodate you. All posts go out to our increasing list of email update subscribers as soon as they’re published.
We also have the Sutton Spotlight, which goes out to every house in the village on a quarterly (ish) basis. Space is sometimes limited, so try to get your entry in early.
We’re also lucky to have a village Journalist who collates news and updates for the Retford Times on a weekly basis. Get your copy in on Monday morning for the Thursday issue.
All our website updates are also sent down the village “X formerly Twitter” feed, @SuttonCumLound. So, follow us there for these and other items in and around our area.
The Parish Council has a Facebook presence for all things of a council nature. Contact the Clerk if you want anything on this feed.