Residents urged: ‘stay at home and save lives’ this Easter

Residents are being urged to follow national health advice to ‘stay at home and save lives’ during the Easter weekend, as warnings have been raised over people destroying closure signs at public play areas.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council is issuing the warning as closure notices have been removed from a playground in the city and crews have had to replace chains cut off at the entrance to Breakespear Street play area, in Goldenhill three times.

Council leader Abi Brown said: “The vast majority of people are acting responsibly and following national health advice through the coronavirus pandemic. But destroying warning signs, chains and barriers at play areas is not acceptable. Let me be clear: we all must adhere to health guidelines. Gathering in public places is not allowed. We all must follow the rule: stay at home and safe lives.

“We urge all residents to continue to do this, especially over the bank holiday weekend, where the weather is set to be warm. Please be vigilant and protect yourself and others from the risk of spreading this horrible disease.”

Residents are reminded that grey and blue bin collections will continue as usual over the bank holiday weekend. Residents who have collections due on Friday (10 April) and Monday (13 April) should put their bins out as usual. Council staff from other services that have closed or reduced during the pandemic are joining collection rounds to ensure residents can continue to have their waste collected.

Meanwhile, the council is continuing to administer support grants to small businesses affected by the coronavirus, and yesterday (Wednesday) issued £8.4m in funding. The authority has now issued around £22m of a total of £57m in government funding allocated to the city. Grants are available for small businesses and those operating in the retail, leisure and hospitality sector who meet eligibility criteria. Read more here.

A dedicated team is in place to support businesses of any size with business related queries, due to Covid-19. They can support with enquiries about property related matters, details about business loans or grants as well as information for the self-employed. They can be contacted on 01782 236878 or by e-mail at: bu*************@*******ov.uk.

Councillor Brown said: “We vowed to move quickly to ensure thousands of businesses across the city that may be eligible for the funding receive it as soon as possible. Our teams have been working hard to process applications, carry out balances and checks and issue the funding. We are determined to give all the support we can to help businesses and keep our city going at this most testing of times.”

The council has confirmed that as a result of coronavirus, the consultation on the draft local plan scheduled for the spring has now been postponed. It is hoped that work can continue on the plan, which is being undertaken jointly with Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, to ensure there is no delay to the overall plan timetable. Councillor Brown added: “Our ability to consult in accordance with the Statement of Community Involvement is obviously impacted on as a result of the restrictions from Coronavirus. We are hopeful that part one and part two consultation which cover strategy, policies and site allocations can now take place as one full consultation before the end of the year.”

**READ MORE ABOUT the #StokeonTrentTogether support network here.

A summary of the Coronavirus Act 2020 which passed into law on 26 March is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-bill-what-it-will-do/what-the-coronavirus-bill-will-do.

For more information and advice on coronavirus (COVID-19) please visit Public Health England: https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2020/01/23/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-what-you-need-to-know/ and the NHS: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/.