Dear Resident
First of all, welcome to some new readers. We are always pleased to have more onboard and please feel free to share the information with other residents.
Attached are the latest newsletters - two this month.
Should you have any information to share, please get in touch.
Best wishes
Sheila
Mrs Sheila Caws
Clerk to Arreton Parish Council
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I thought it best to issue two editions this time – this one with the Parish Council news and one with all the Covid 19 and IW Council news. Sadly, this one will probably be considerably shorter than its counterpart, as due, to Covid restrictions, we have not been as active as we would have liked to have been. However, we have managed some Covid secure activities.
Newsletter One
Remembrance Day
Although churches and public buildings remained closed, gatherings at war memorials were permitted, provided suitable social distancing was observed. As the Parish Council had purchased a wreath, it was decided to lay it on Remembrance Day and not on Remembrance Sunday, as is usual. Our Vice Chairman, Cllr Heather Calloway, agreed to do the honours in the absence of our Chairman with a knee injury. Nothing was officially organised but members of the Parish Council were joined by other residents at 11am and a short service was held and several wreaths were laid.
Council Meetings
During lockdown, the Parish Council had to meet virtually by Zoom, which was not ideal but needs must. However, once lockdown was lifted and after the August break, it was decided to hold hybrid meetings, with some present in person and others attending by Zoom. One of the reasons behind the decision was to allow those parish councillors with less-than-perfect internet connections to participate. We managed two meetings before lockdown struck again.
As both the Community Hall and the Methodist Hall remained closed, Cllr Roberts kindly offered the use of Haseley Manor Barn, where there is plenty of room to sit well apart and other precautions were also taken. Only councillors and the Clerk attended in person with others invited to participate by Zoom.
Town and Parish Councillors are exempt from the ‘rule of six’ but, as it happened, there were only six present in the room on both occasions. However, there were problems with those in the room not always able to hear those on the computer and vice versa. Given that Covid restrictions in some form or another are unlikely
Is it an X-box controller? to go away soon, the Parish Council has purchased a Zoom-friendly Is it a drone? conference speakerphone. Sadly, although it has been tested in a No, it’s a Zoom-friendly domestic setting, we have not been able to use it for real yet as speakerphone! lockdown is back with us. Maybe next month.
Arreton Social Club
You may or may not be aware that the Arreton Community Centre building contains both the hall, which is available for hire by individuals or organisations, and a separate social club. Arreton Social Club occupies around one third of the building and has its own entrance at the rear. It is a Licenced Members Club (present membership fee is £15.00 per annum) and offers a competitively priced bar. There are two full sized snooker tables and as well as casual play the Club has three teams entered in the Island League.
The Social Club history goes back over 60 years and it has always been on this site. Its members were instrumental in raising funds, and indeed in the construction, of the present building. Under the current Covid lockdown the Social Club is closed, hoping to re-open in the New Year.
For further details in the first instance please contact the Chairman, Richard Page, on 638321. Please be advised that this number is on a call minder system.
Trees 
The Parish Council is looking to increase the number of trees in the Parish and to this end, is investigating possible areas of land that could benefit from such planting. Planning is very much at an early stage and the scheme may not prove to be viable. However, if you have any suggestions as to where trees could be planted then please let us know. It may be possible to include front gardens but we would have to stipulate that the tree be visible from the road.
Website
The Parish website is now up-to-date and (almost) conforms to The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 – a bit of a mouthful! These came into force earlier this year and have meant a few changes. Some work still remains to be done to make sure that older PDFs are compliant and also on the Community Centre diary.
Volunteers
For those of you who are also volunteers, I sent out an e-mail asking if you wished to remain on the list now that lockdown has re-appeared. Unfortunately, I have not heard back from many of you and I cannot assume that you wish to carry on unless you tell me. It would be useful if you could let me know either way.
=============================================================
Newsletter Two
Covid 19 and IW Council news.
As you are aware, we are now in a second lockdown but the good news is that we still have volunteers in the Parish who are willing to help with shopping, prescription collections etc. The Council phone number remains the same – 01983 823600 – but should you prefer, you can ring Cllr Simon Dodson direct on 07973 323560 or e mail him at
simon.dodsonapc@gmail.com I have previously circulated the latest Covid 19 information from the IW Council and so I won’t repeat that here.
Prescriptions
The following information is from Community Action IW:-
“All pharmacies and dispensing doctors in England will be required to ensure patients on the Shielded Patient List who require support to obtain medication receive their medicines at home and this delivery should be free. There is further information here (NHS link) which also explains the use of volunteers to deliver on pharmacies’ behalf and this is summarised below.
• Where there is no family, friend, neighbour or carer, the pharmacy team must advise the patient of the potential for a local volunteer to act on their behalf who can collect the patient’s prescription and deliver it to them. This must include local provision of volunteers and NHS Volunteer Responders, where either are available.
• Where a volunteer is to be used, the pharmacist must be satisfied that the volunteer is an appropriate person to deliver medicines to the patient. Volunteers should not deliver Schedule 2 and 3 Controlled Drugs and pharmacists should use their professional judgement to determine whether it is appropriate for a volunteer to deliver Schedule 4 or 5 Controlled Drugs.
• Where there is no volunteer available who can deliver the medicine(s) to the patient in the timescale that they are required, the pharmacy contractor must ensure that eligible patients get their prescription delivered. This can be done in one of the following ways:
i. deliver the medicine themselves as part of the Advanced Service;
ii. arrange for another pharmacy to deliver it on their behalf as part of the Advanced Service; iii. arrange for the prescription to be dispensed and delivered by another pharmacy under the terms of the Advanced Service.
Bird Flu
As if it’s not bad enough with Covid, we now have our feathered friends adding to our problems! Bird flu restrictions apply to anyone keeping poultry, including pets
The government has declared nationwide restrictions to protect poultry from an outbreak of avian influenza (bird flu). Anyone keeping even a few birds, including chickens, ducks and geese, is now legally obliged to follow the new requirements which are designed to keep domestic birds from coming into contact with wild birds, helping to keep them safe from infection.
Public Health England advises that the risk to public health from the virus is very low and the Food Standards Agency advises that avian influenzas pose a very low food safety risk for UK consumers.
Properly cooked poultry and poultry products, including eggs, are still safe to eat.
It is important to control this disease not only for the welfare of wild and domestic birds but also because in rare cases, the disease can affect humans, although so far there are no known cases in this country. The
UK Government has declared a Nationwide Prevention Zone. This means anyone who keeps poultry (including pets) must:
• Ensure the areas where birds are kept are unattractive to wild birds, for example by netting ponds, and by removing wild bird food sources;
• Feed and water birds in enclosed areas to discourage wild birds;
• Minimise movement in and out of bird enclosures;
• Clean and disinfect footwear and keep areas where birds live clean and tidy;
• Reduce any existing contamination by cleansing and disinfecting concrete areas, and fencing off wet or boggy areas.
The Isle of Wight Council will be directly contacting owners with larger flocks, but the new rules apply to everybody, right across the Island, even if they only have a few birds. Anybody who keeps poultry, including chickens, ducks and geese, should check the Government website for updates and full information on the new rules.
Scams
No newsletter of this nature would be complete without some reference to the latest scam! This comes courtesy of Community Action IW.
Subject: Support Scheme Grant Extension - The grant has been approved ID: 65228 (or other number)
Body of the email:
Support Scheme Grant Extension
The UK Government recognises the continued impact that coronavirus (COVID-19) has had and has taken action to provide support. The Support Scheme Grant Extension provides critical support in the form of two grants, each available for three month periods.
The first grant will cover a three-month period and will be capped at £3,750 in total. The scheme for government grant has been approved for [email address of the recipient]. The money are set to land in your bank accounts within six working days of making the claim. Claim now > [link to the scamming site to get your bank information]
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
The following comes from the HMRC:-
The Chancellor has announced that CJRS will be extended until the end of March 2021 for all parts of the UK. For claim periods running to 31 January 2021, the UK Government will pay 80% of employees’ usual wages for hours not worked, up to a cap of £2,500 per month. The UK Government will review the policy in January to decide whether economic circumstances are improving enough to ask employers to contribute more. It was also confirmed that the Job Retention Bonus will no longer be paid in February 2021, as CJRS will be available at that time. An alternative retention incentive will be put in place at the appropriate time.
What you need to do now
If you intend to claim under the CJRS, please look at information published on how you can check if you’re eligible to claim, and what you need to agree with your employees. You can find this on GOV.UK by searching 'Extension to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme'. This latest information applies for CJRS claim periods from 1 November 2020. The final date for claims for the period up to 31 October is still 30 November 2020.
The full guidance for claims from November onwards, including more information on how to calculate a claim, was published on GOV.UK on Tuesday 4th November and claims can be made from 11 November 2020.
Further support
Guidance and live webinars offering you more support on changes to CJRS, and how they affect you, are available to book online – go to GOV.UK and search 'help and support if your business is affected by coronavirus'. Our phone lines and webchat remain very busy, so the quickest way to find the support you need is on GOV.UK. This will leave our phone lines and webchat service open for those who need them most.
Protect yourself from scams
Stay vigilant about scams, which may mimic government messages as a way of appearing authentic. Search 'scams' on GOV.UK for information on how to recognise genuine HMRC contact. You can also forward suspicious emails claiming to be from HMRC to
phishing@hmrc.gov.uk and texts to 60599. Access the National Cyber Security Centre’s new guide on how to stay secure online and protect yourself or your business against cyber-crime by searching 'Cyber Aware' on GOV.UK.
IW Council Statement on second national lockdown
"We will continue to do all we can to support residents, businesses and communities and to continue delivering vital public services during lockdown." That's the message from the leader of the Isle of Wight Council as the country prepares to enter a second lockdown on Thursday (5 November) due to rising levels of coronavirus (Covid-19).
Councillor Dave Stewart again urged everyone to play their part in doing all they can to reduce the spread of the virus, protect the NHS and protect one another.
He said: "As a council we recognise the impact a new lockdown will have on our businesses and community. We will be doing everything we possibly can to passport government support to businesses as quickly as possible. We have already increased the resources in our helpline service (823600) for residents and anyone who has any concerns should make contact with us as soon as possible.
“I know this is yet another enormous ask of our community, but I know it is up for the challenge and we will do everything we can in support. Let's do what we should, not what we could. Throughout this pandemic, Islanders, businesses and communities have come together and shown a collective public spirit and determination to curb the spread of the virus and protect not only themselves, but their neighbours and loved ones. We need this to continue and we can’t afford to be complacent as we head into the winter. As a council, we will continue to work closely with our partners, agencies and businesses to #keeptheislandsafe#. Councillor Stewart added: "When we get more details from government about what financial support will be available for businesses, we’ll be letting people know how they can access this as soon as possible.”
Simon Bryant, the Island's director of public health, said the announcement by the Prime Minister on Saturday night was a further reminder that Covid-19 was still present and was a very real public health threat. He said: "Despite everyone’s best efforts, we cannot escape the fact that cases on the Island are increasing just as they are on the mainland.
"At the start of September, our seven-day rate of new infections was 3.1 cases per 100,000 population but we have seen a significant rise and that figure is now 38.8 cases per 100,000.”
This new lockdown should give us the opportunity to reduce the transmission of the virus on the Island and help to keep our community safe during the difficult winter months ahead. It gives the Island, with its still relatively low rate of cases, a significant opportunity to reduce our rates and protect our population. But to do so we must follow the rules set out, especially not mixing households in a private setting and always remembering the behaviours of hands face space."
The council is currently assessing the available guidance and further information will be provided on its website as well as on social media. People can also sign up to receive the council's digital newsletter for updates.
Isle of Wight Council statement on cross-Solent travel
Isle of Wight Council leader, Dave Stewart, said: "The government has provided a very clear message about people continuing to travel for work and medical needs, but that travel for holidays and visits should cease.
"We know that travel connections with the mainland are vital to the Island’s resilience and the wellbeing of its community at this time. Food, fuel, medical supplies and materials need to be maintained, as does the availability of mainland healthcare; keyworkers traveling to support the community, and for commuters travelling to and from work. The ferries also carry all of the goods we might purchase online while non-essential retail is closed. The Island needs to have services open for these reasons.
"The ferry operators are very active in working with the council to dissuade people from travelling that do not need to do so and this will be helped by the government’s clear guidance that people should not travel for holidays or to visit second homes. The ferry operators and the council are unable to police each individual reason for travel and have to rely on everyone obeying the lockdown laws. Additional restrictions such as temperature testing on passengers have been considered and discounted because only a Covid-19 test can determine whether a person has an infection and many people show no symptoms at all. We are working with the operators to understand the impact that lockdown will have on service schedules and on ensuring that we have services provided to and from the Island."
PARISH COUNCIL CONTACT DETAILS
No comments:
Post a Comment