COVID-19 – keeping Hampshire safe 

A new information and communications campaign for the public - Keep Hampshire Safe - to support the delivery of Hampshire's Local Outbreak Control Plan has launched. 

https://www.hants.gov.uk/News/07082020keepinghampshiresafe

Community Transport Services up and running across Hampshire 

Community Transport services commissioned by Hampshire County Council are now beginning to operate again as the Government lifts more travel restrictions for residents following the Coronavirus outbreak. 

https://www.hants.gov.uk/News/07082020communitytransportupdate

Plugging in more electric vehicles – tell us your views 

Hampshire County Council is asking residents their views on electric vehicle charging points to support a bid for national funding to improve charging infrastructure for residents. 

https://www.hants.gov.uk/News/07082020EVchargingsurvey

County Council calls on residents to take part in independent national survey on highways and transport 

Hampshire residents are being asked for their views on Hampshire County Council’s range of highways and transport services – from the condition of roads, provision for cyclists and how residents feel the County Council manages utilities’ works on the road network.

https://www.hants.gov.uk/News/07082020NHTsurvey

Hampshire County Council has been working to increase the number of vehicles which can access the Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) on a daily basis

See:  https://www.hants.gov.uk/News/26060202HWRC

Bookings for HWRCs can be made online at: www.hants.gov.uk/wasteandrecycling/recyclingcentres/book-appointment

A telephone booking line, primarily for those without access to the online system, can be made by calling 023 8017 9949

Anyone wishing to book a slot will need to provide their name, car registration and, for online bookings, an email address. Bookings are limited to one slot per household per week.

• There is no need to bring confirmation of the booking to the site, the site will have information on confirmed bookings;
• Site staff will check registration plates upon arrival – people will need to arrive in the vehicle specified in the booking;
• Anyone turning up without a confirmed booking will not be allowed entry to the site;
• As per government guidelines, residents in the specified vulnerable category (those who are clinically extremely vulnerable, people over 70 and pregnant women) are strongly advised not to visit a site;
• New parking arrangements are in place with site staff guiding vehicles, from a safe distance, into spaces
• As far as possible, only one person per household should visit the HWRC.
• Due to social distancing measures, site staff will be unable to provide any assistance with unloading material or carrying material. Residents are asked to bring only the amount of waste they can comfortably carry and empty into containers
• Trailers are not permitted.
• Everyone must keep at least a two-metre distance from others at all times.
• Most waste materials will be accepted, except for chargeable waste – soil, rubble, asbestos and plasterboard.
• Reuse sales areas will remain closed. Where possible, please continue to store items of furniture which could be reused, donate to local furniture charities, or use online platforms (e.g. Freegle / Facebay / Gumtree). Please see the Smart Living web pages for more information on furniture reuse.

• Hampshire Local Resilience Forum during these difficult times is being led by Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service. We have received £1.64 m from Government against losses/costs of £770k.
• HCC-  by the end of June, our costs/losses will be ££96m.  We are now running at a cost of £18m per month. Government has promised to cover these losses as we go forward.
• Bus Services Support grant. We have had a grant from DoT for £509k to keep local bus services running. Lack of usage has meant greatly reduced services and revenue. The likelihood is that the bus companies may require more contribution to those services which we already subsidise with the inevitable increased costs.
• SE Water is asking that we go sparingly with usage in this coming heatwave. Enjoy your brown lawn and worship your dirty car!
• HCC held a virtual AGM at the end of May with success and these meetings continue apace with all committees and panels. Parish Councils have also joined in the experience which is encouraging to see.
• HWRCs – These now operate on a booking system which half my emails say works well and the other half say it doesn’t. The sensible advice is go to Hantsweb and follow the instructions. Certainly it may take a bit longer to book a slot but the whole idea is to stop massive queues blocking up everybody else’s lives. I have had reports of people turning up without a booking and trying to bribe the staff. Nothing surprises me very much these days.
• Scams – there are telephone scams relating to test & trace messaging. If anyone asks for your financial details hang up.
• Fostering – We are very short of people who are willing to Foster. If you know of anyone please contact me or HCC.
• This is Armed Forces Week culminating in Armed Forces Day on Saturday 27^th. If you have a Union Flag and a flag pole, a display would be appropriate. Churches in particular.
• Hampshire County Councillors bulletin is now reduced to 3 per week. Most other issues regarding the on-going situation are covered herein and sent to the Parish Councils. 

Cllr Rhydian Vaughan
Calleva Division
Hampshire County Council
Fb.com/tellrhydian

Hampshire County Council will be establishing a pre-booking system from mid-June for residents to access Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) to manage demand and reduce queuing traffic.

Councillor Rob Humby, Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Economy, Transport and Environment at Hampshire County Council, said: “We have recently extended opening hours, which has helped, but with very high demand and long queues persisting at a number of sites, we now need to consider other options, including limiting visits with a pre-booking system.”

With new measures in place at HWRCs for safe social distancing, the number of vehicles now able to access each site at any one time is much less than before the Coronavirus outbreak.

Residents have been urged to make use of kerbside collections provided by district and borough councils and only visit an HWRC at this time if they cannot safely store waste at home, but traffic queues have continued to be significant at a number of HWRCs across the county. This traffic has impacted on local people trying to get to work as well as having a detrimental impact on the ability for businesses nearby to get back up and running and deliver essential services.

Councillor Humby continued: “Hampshire has one of the largest HWRC networks in the country, and we recognise how Hampshire residents value the service which has been both convenient and effective in promoting recycling and managing waste. However, the level of demand we are currently seeing cannot be accommodated with social distancing and safe working requirements without long delays, and therefore we will need to bring in more significant changes.”

Similar booking systems have been introduced elsewhere in the country, not just for HWRCs but recreational activities such as gardens and parks. The system will allow for between 25 - 30,000 visits per week and people will be able to book several days’ ahead. The new pre-booking system will be operating at all Hampshire HWRCs from mid-June. Full details on how to book will be available at the end of next week.

Until the pre-booking system is up and running, additional customer liaison officers are being deployed to HWRC sites where queuing traffic is causing safety issues or obstructions.

Councillor Humby said: “I’d ask people once again to take notice of highway signs, be considerate of others and not block roads or junctions when queuing.”

Further information is available at: www.hants.gov.uk/wasteandrecycling

Background

On 31 December 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) was informed of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China.

On 12 January 2020 it was announced that a novel coronavirus had been identified in samples obtained from cases and that initial analysis of virus genetic sequences suggested that this was the cause of the outbreak. Public Health England (PHE) is currently using the name Wuhan novel coronavirus (WN-CoV), in the absence of internationally accepted names for the virus and the disease/syndrome it causes. Further information on the disease is available here.

National context

There are currently no confirmed cases of Wuhan novel coronavirus in the UK. Health partners have been carefully monitoring the situation in Wuhan for some time and have put in place proportionate, precautionary measures.

• The risk to the UK population has been assessed as low.
• Since 31 December 2019 and as of 28 January 2020, there have been:
  • 4,515 laboratory-confirmed cases 2019-nCoV infection;
  • 106 deaths, all reported in China;
  • three cases in France, which are the first cases reported in the EU/EEA;
  • a small number of diagnosed cases in other countries in travellers from Wuhan; and
  • 79 people so far tested in the UK (three in Hampshire) have all been negative.

Local context

Hampshire County Council’s Public Health and Emergency Planning teams are working closely together to monitor the situation, in conjunction with external partners and health colleagues to ensure multi-agency preparedness.

There are two aspects to this work:

• ensuring that the potential impacts on the organisation specifically are mitigated as far as possible;
• ensuring the County Council’s critical services are ready to invoke Business Continuity Plans so that services can continue to be delivered in the event of the virus reaching Hampshire.

Public messages

• Due to the current national risk being assessed as ‘low’, combined with no cases being reported in the UK or Hampshire, it not considered appropriate at this time to issue public messages from the County Council.  However, this position will be kept under review.
• As the lead body, Public Health England is managing all public messaging and has published further advice, in the form of questions and answers, for the public here.
• The County Council will be publishing links to this advice.

Ongoing monitoring

• So far, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has not declared the Coronavirus outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
• Should the situation change, established response arrangements will be triggered both within the County Council and through our formal emergency response mechanisms.

Regular updates

• Daily updates are in place between Public Health Hampshire and Public Health England, including the County Council’s Emergency Planning Team.

Updates to Members will be issued on a weekly basis – unless the situation changes, requiring more frequent communication.

Hampshire County Council is asking people who live, work and study in Hampshire to have their say on proposed changes to libraries. A 10-week public consultation opens today (9 January 2020) asking for opinions on:   

• the emerging vision for Hampshire’s Libraries to 2025;  
• the level of need for library services in specific local communities;  
• proposed changes to the Library Service and the potential impacts; and 
• any alternatives that respondents may wish to propose.   

The County Council is committed to providing a high-quality library service, fit for the future, that responds to a new generation of library customers. Therefore, we feel the right thing to do is focus the resources we have on where they will be of most benefit - to make the library service relevant in a way that will improve the literacy, life chances and wellbeing of Hampshire residents. 

At the same time, Hampshire County Council is facing an anticipated budget shortfall of £80 million by April 2021. The council is having to look across all its services to find savings which can help to bridge this gap and the Library Service is required to identify £1.76 million towards the overall savings target

The proposals in the consultation have been carefully thought through and offer a genuine choice.  As well as increasing income and improving business efficiency, the consultation includes proposals for changes to the way services are delivered. This includes options to close up to 10 council-run libraries and reduce opening hours in others. It also considers exploring better ways to deliver library services in deprived communities. No decisions will be made until all the consultation responses have been fully analysed.

Full details of all proposals can be found at www.hants.gov.uk/library-consultation – we also have printed copies of the information available to read in our libraries. Please share this information within your own organisation and encourage your colleagues and service users to participate in this public consultation. 

The consultation is open until Wednesday 18 March 2020. Feedback received will inform decisions to be made by the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage in summer 2020.​ If you have any questions about the public consultation or its impact on your organisation please email the Hampshire County Council Insight & Engagement Unit insight@hants.gov.uk

The Hampshire Countryside Access Forum is the local access forum for Hampshire, a statutory advisory body established under the Countryside and Rights of Way (CROW) Act 2000. The Forum is independent of any council or interest group and draws its membership represents from a wide range of interests and expertise, including land owners and managers, conservationists, access user groups and those with disabilities so that acting by consensus it can provide a balanced view. As bodies specified in paragraph 3.2.1 of Defra’s Guidance for Local Access Forums as falling under section 94(4) of the CROW Act, [recipient bodies] are obliged to have regard to advice given before coming to decisions. 

HCAF is concerned about the impacts of new developments in Hampshire on the public rights of way network, multi-user routes, accessible green space and carriageways that together enable residents and visitors to explore and enjoy the countryside. It has contributed to the development of Hampshire County Council strategies for walking and cycling, and considers that similar guidance is required to protect and promote the interests and safety of equestrians. It has therefore published a guidance document within which it formally advises planners and others to take into account in their work. The original document can be downloaded from http://documents.hants.gov.uk/countryside/Equestrians-in-Hampshire.pdf (a copy of which can be found below attached to this post). 

Once you have reviewed the guidance, we will be grateful if you can provide a response on how you intend to incorporate it into your work. If you require further information, the carriage driving and horse riding representatives at Hampshire Countryside Access Forum can be contacted by e-mail at hcaf@hants.gov.uk.

Click the image above to visit: hants.gov.uk/balancingthebudget