CORONAVIRUS UPDATES

 

New guidelines for funerals have been published. Visit the Cemeteries page of the website for further details

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Face Coverings

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The Government are advising that if you need to travel on public transport that face coverings will be mandatory from the 15th June. These do NOT need to be masks as we must ensure stocks of these are not taken away from our front line services, but home-made coverings are adequate. The Government advice including how you can make these at home can be found here.  Advice remains that wherever possible people should continue to avoid public transport and walk, cycle or drive, but for some people this may not be an option.

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Household Waste & Recycling Centres

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From Monday 15th June household recycling centres will resume their normal Summer opening hours of 9am to 6pm, 7 days a week. Hampshire County Council are also launching a new pre-booking system which can be found here.

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Eastleigh Town Centre

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On Monday June 9th the Eastleigh Local Area Committee agreed to the temporary closure of High Street and Market street – making it pedestrian only to ensure social distancing measures can take place when non-essential shops reopen on 15 June. This will allow people to queue on the pavements and walk freely on the road. The Government position is that hairdressers, nail bars and beauty salons, and the hospitality sector remain closed, because the risk of transmission in these environments is higher where long periods of person to person contact is required.

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Borough Council staff will be placing safety reminder signage across the Borough in the coming days and distributing information to shops.

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Car parking charges will be reinstated from 15 June to coincide with the opening of non-essential shops, having been paused since 8 April.

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The Borough Council has pulled together the various pieces of government advice on how to safely reopen which can be found by clicking here.

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Updated Shielding Guidelines

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The Secretary of State announced that those advised to shield can take initial steps to safely spend time outdoors. The shielding guidance is now updated to reflect this announcement and will lay out how a shielded person can go outside once a day with members of their household or, for those shielding alone, with one other person from a different household. This is in accordance with evidence that the rate of transmission is much lower outside.

 

The advice can be found by clicking here.

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Church community offer to help

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Members of St Mary's and St Paul's church and community are offering to help those that are unable to go out for themselves. If you need someone to pick up some shopping, collect prescriptions and collecting or delivering essential items.  All members have safeguarding training and are DBS checked. For more information or to contact them please go to their website at www.cofebishopstoke.com/coronavirus.

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Eastleigh Aid - Get help with delivery of essential items or become a volunteer

 

There is now a local community group dedicated to helping during the lockdown. Eastleigh Aid can be contacted on 0238 111 2019, or by going to their website: www.eastleigh-aid.uk. Whether you are in need of help or looking to volunteer yourself, please get in touch.

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Volunteers can support with the collection and delivery of food and other essential items like prescription medicines, as well as be someone people can chat with (remotely) to combat loneliness. 

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To request food and essential items, and ask for someone you can talk to during isolation, click here.

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To volunteer to help those who are self-isolating due to coronavirus, click here.

 

The Borough Council has announced that it is having to suspend food waste collection. Please compost as much as you are able and put any remaining food waste in the black bin.

 

The Bishopstoke play areas are closed until the government advises we can open the again.

 

The Cemetery will remain open but we must ask that everyone ensure that when visiting they stay at least 2 metres away from anyone else there.

 

Similarly, the allotments will remain open for the time being as they are good sources of food, exercise and are an easy place to stay distant from anyone else working their plot.

 

Unfortunately, Hampshire Waste Recycling Centres are now closed and will remain so for the duration of the lockdown.

 

Chemists are staying open but please understand that they will be extremely busy preparing all the medications for those who cannot come to the pharmacy. We would ask that you bear with them at this difficult time.