Lowestoft Town Council
In response the COVID-19 pandemic, the Town Council's standard grant awarding policy has been suspended until April 2021. Grant awarding funds have been further increased and allocated to be entirely dedicated to COVID-19 support and recovery. Groups and organisations who are helping with support and recovery from the 2020 pandemic - including the heritage and culture sector - and wishing to apply for a grant should read the revised policy carefully. Decisions will be made as soon as practical following receipt of a fully completed application. The post COVID-19 grant application form can be downloaded via the following link: Post COVID-19 Grant Application Form and Policy
Read more on Lowestoft Town Council's Post COVID-19 Grant Awarding Policy and Application Form
OneLife Suffolk would like to support your family, members and staff during this difficult time by offering their free services, accessible from the safety of home. Their children’s team also have many fun informative activities for families. The accompanying images outline exciting ways OneLife Suffolk is delivering their free services in a safe, convenient way at this time.
Read more on OneLife Suffolk continues to offer its free, accessible services
As part of Mental Health Awareness Week the Kooth.com website and app offer emotional wellbeing support for 11-25 year olds.
Following the Government's announcement that tennis is one of the activities which can be enjoyed whilst social distancing measures are still in place, the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) has released guidance for venues, players and coaches on how this can be done safely and in adherence to Government guidelines.
The guidance is available via the following links:
LTA Guidance for Tennis Coaches
LTA Guidance for Tennis Players
LTA Guidance for Tennis Venues
Lowestoft Town Council's tennis courts at Normanston Park, the Denes Oval and Kensington Gardens are open and available to the public during the day, free of charge. Users of these facilities will be expected to adhere to the guidance issued by the LTA and the latest Government advice.
Following the decision to close the Town Council owned car parks earlier this year in response to Covid-19 we have now reopened the car parks at Normanston Park and Links Road following the government advice issued on the 11th May 2020.
Greater Anglia is set to change its reduced emergency timetable and increase train services, to help maintain social distancing as more people return to work, and ensure that keyworkers can continue to travel safely.
From Monday 18 May, Greater Anglia will run an amended Saturday timetable, which sees increased frequency on the Great Eastern Main Line from Colchester, Clacton and Southend to London and the West Anglia Main Line from Cambridge to Liverpool Street. Regional lines will remain as they are currently, but the hourly Norwich to Cambridge service will now run as a direct through service to Stansted Airport again. The Norwich-London intercity service, will continue to run once an hour, but during peak periods will not call at Colchester or Chelmsford, running non-stop between Manningtree and Stratford.
A new online booking system will be in place when Suffolk’s Recycling Centres re-open on Thursday May 14th 2020. This appointment-only system is necessary to help reduce traffic disruption and queueing on roads around the sites and help manage additional demand on the waste sites. There are also new temporary restrictions and guidelines in place at all sites to support the safety of staff and members of the public.
Suffolk County Council has been working with its contractor FCC Environment to put plans in place to re-open all eleven sites to make sure that visits to the Recycling Centres are as safe as possible for residents and staff. In order to reopen the sites safely, people will need to book a time online when they can arrive and dispose of their waste. Through the online booking process, the council wants to limit the length of queuing on roads outside the Recycling Centres, which have occurred elsewhere in the country when sites have reopened. If you do not have an appointment, you will be denied access and turned away from the site.
For further advice please visit Suffolk County Council's website: https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/council-news/show/public-to-access-suffolks-recycling-centres-from-thursday-by-appointment-only
Read more on Public to access Suffolk's Recycling Centres from Thursday 14 May by appointment only
East Suffolk Council has set a date for the resumption of its garden waste collection service. Operations will restart on Bank Holiday Monday May 25, following an earlier suspension due to the impact of COVID-19, and all subscribers will receive their first collection during the subsequent fortnight. The Council has taken the decision to restart the service having been satisfied that criteria to ensure the safety of operatives have been met.
In a large, rural district, with over 50,000 subscribers, managing collections whilst implementing social distancing is a considerable challenge. However, we are satisfied that we can deliver the service, while also ensuring that no more than two operatives are in each vehicle cab at any given time.
Full details of the restart, including any changes to collection dates and payments or renewals will be confirmed shortly. Subscribers are asked not to call or email the Council about their collection at this time – all will be contacted individually in due course to confirm the new arrangements.
Subscribers are also reminded that all garden waste presented for collection must be contained within your allocated bin.
For further advice please visit East Suffolk Council's website: https://www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/waste/waste-collection-and-disposal/garden-waste/
The Town Council is taking steps, where appropriate, to respond to Government’s changed requirement that we “Stay alert, control the virus, and in doing so, save lives”.
Anyone wishing to read more about social distancing and the Government’s publication “Our plan to rebuild: The UK Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy” published on 11 May 2020 can do so via the Government website:
· Social distancing https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/staying-alert-and-safe-social-distancing/staying-alert-and-safe-social-distancing
· Our Plan to Rebuild https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/our-plan-to-rebuild-the-uk-governments-covid-19-recovery-strategy
We understand the Government’s ambition of planning to ”return life to as near normal as we can, for as many people as we can, as quickly and fairly as possible in order to safeguard livelihoods, but in a way that is safe and continues to protect our NHS.”
Lowestoft Town Council has always strongly encouraged use of its open spaces, including by implementing a policy of providing sports and leisure facilities without charge for clubs and the public. We believe that exercise and outdoor activity is an important part of mental and physical health. We also recognised the need to implement measures to help contain spread of the virus and we did what we could to support this position in relation to our own assets and services.
Government has now decided to remove some of its initial limitations on outdoor exercise and is encouraging a return to work in certain circumstances. In response, the Town Council has implemented the following measures:
We continue to review the position and you will wish to monitor the information posted here to see any updates on our sites and services.
Read more on Measures being taken by the Town Council in response to the latest Government advice
As the country gets ready to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe, within the current social distancing guidelines, we would like to invite you to join us via live stream for an address by the Town Mayor and a two minutes' silence commencing with the Last Post being played from 10.55 am tomorrow morning (Friday 8 May). Click the links to view the stream on Facebook or view the stream on YouTube.
