Coronavirus Update
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View this email in your browser Follow us on twitter Like and follow us on facebook Go to our website Follow us on LinkedIn Subscribe on YouTube Coronavirus update Access to testing Tests are now available for everyone in the UK, whether they have symptoms or not. The NHS website provides information on the different tests available, both for those with symptoms and without. You can also use this site to book a local test or arrange a home test kit. Our organisational arrangements Our Coronavirus public information web page has all the latest on our services, and on our support for businesses and communities. We can be contacted here, and there is currently no public access to our offices and buildings. Car parking In line with the easing of Government restrictions, standard parking charges now apply for all users of our car parks. Community facilities Copeland Pool and Fitness Centre, Whitehaven Sports Centre, Cleator Moor Activity Centre and The Beacon Museum are all open to the public. Community based support Our Directory of Community Groups and Services lists groups and activities that can offer practical help or support your health and wellbeing. Cumbria County Council has also produced a leaflet of support services. General support If you need support, please contact the Cumbria County Council helpline on 0800 783 1966 or at [email protected], or see our leaflet. NHS Covid-19 app The NHS Covid-19 app, available to download for free, is the fastest way to see if you're at risk from coronavirus. The app includes contact tracing, local area alerts and venue check- in. Click here to find out more. Support payments for self-isolation We offer support payments for those financially affected by self-isolation. This can include being affected by a child self-isolating. Lockdown The Government has set out its roadmap out of lockdown with a gradual easing of restrictions concluding no earlier than July 19. We are currently in Step 3 of lockdown restrictions, see further details of what you can and can't do here. A word from Mike Starkie, Elected Mayor of Copeland It was a proud day for Cleator Moor and Copeland last month when we received confirmation that a staggering £22.5 million of funding is heading the town’s way. The successful bid to the Government’s Towns Deal has been devised by the community, for the community, and my congratulations and thanks go to everyone involved. The Towns Board – chaired by Kayleigh Daniels and including community representatives from business, youth, sport, education, faith and the three tiers of council – has driven this successful bid. With the support of Copeland Council and MP Trudy Harrison, the community has laid out its own vision for the town and it’s wonderful news that has been validated with this significant funding offer from Government that will be matched by millions more in private sector funding. In the pipeline are the redevelopment of the Leconfield Industrial Estate and a multi- purpose centre for sports and recreation, as well as improvements to the walking and cycling network and aesthetic improvements to the Square and buildings. It won’t be an overnight transformation however, and the council and Town Board now have 12 months to work up the schemes in detail, but it’s a massive boost for all concerned. Cleator Moor has been in the news lately – and deservedly so – but of course we have other major projects in the works for the rest of the borough. We’re hoping for a similarly successful outcome when the Government decision is made on Millom’s Towns Fund bid - we understand this will be announced in the next tranche in the coming months – and in Egremont, £3m of Borderlands funding has already been secured for the town. In Whitehaven, I am confident the fantastic bus station development and the imminent coastal activity centre The Edge will be the trigger for significant regeneration. Land and buildings that were previously in private ownership and have been left to run into disrepair (including the former Whittles building) have been acquired by BEC or Copeland Council ourselves, with a view to continuing the redeveloping of our town centre. Multi-million-pound funding deal for Cleator Moor In partnership with the Cleator Moor Town Fund Board, we have been successful in our initial application to the Government’s Towns Fund and have been offered investment of £22.5 million for the town. We were invited to bid for funding on behalf of Cleator Moor (incorporating Cleator) in January last year, and a Town Deal Board made up of community representatives has worked with the support of the council to produce its Town Investment Plan. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has announced the funding for Cleator Moor, and the Town Board and ourselves now have a short window to formally accept the outline offer, followed by a further year of work to develop the projects to the point of investment. View the full story here. Accelerated funding projects now complete A million-pound package of community improvement projects has been completed in Cleator Moor and Millom. We successfully applied for £500,000 for each town at the end of 2020 and have used the grants to fund – or part- fund – key projects across both areas. This has included significant upgrades to sporting, leisure and play facilities, improvements to the cycling and walking infrastructure, and a cultural/digital trail. We received the accelerated Government grants to fund immediate projects in each town while full investment plans were being developed by the respective Town Deal Boards. View the full story here. Funding bid submitted for Cleator Moor innovation project We have submitted a Levelling Up Fund bid for a Cleator Moor Innovation Quarter (CMIQ), which will act as the campus for the Industrial Solutions Hub (ISH). CMIQ aims to build upon the considerable interest in the ISH and in Leconfield Industrial Estate, augmenting the successful Town Deal application for Cleator Moor and our purchase of the Leconfield site. CMIQ will open up an additional 400 per cent of developable space, enabling high quality facilities for skills and training, research, development, innovation, testing and manufacture. It will include enhanced community facilities and improved connectivity with Cleator Moor town and the broader region, as well as providing considerable employment opportunities for local people. The total grant funding sought by the project is £14m. Green change for garden bins From now on, any new garden bins will be green, rather than the current brown colour. Your existing brown bins will remain in use, and will be collected in exactly the same way. They will not be replaced with green bins until each brown bin reaches the end of its useful life. You can check when your garden, household waste and recycling collections are at www.copeland.gov.uk. Our Planning team among the UK's best We are proud to announce that we have one of the highest planning application approval rates in the country – and we credit our free pre-application advice service for this success. We approved 99 per cent of planning applications in 2020/21. We believe the preliminary discussions offered to agents and applicants ahead of an application being lodged helps identify issues that may stand in the way of planning permission being granted, and allows them to be resolved early in the process. We also had one of the highest rates nationally for the speed in which we made decisions on planning applications in 2020/21, far exceeding government-set targets. View the full story here. Community full of praise for council We received almost twice as many compliments from residents in 2020/21 as we did in the previous year. We formally recorded 106 compliments in the past year, new figures show, compared to 62 over the previous 12-month period. Compliments ranged from the level of care given to parks and open spaces and the high standard of street-cleaning and environmental protection, to the quality of communications and customer service and the efficiency of our planning service. Our Bereavement Services team was also widely praised for its virtual Christmas memorial service. The highest number of compliments this year were received by our Waste and Recycling team for their dedication at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, and our Revenues and Benefits teams for the speed and efficiency of processing business and support grants. View the full story here. Green fingered volunteers needed We are appealing for volunteers to help make improvements to some of our nearly 100,000 square miles of open spaces. We are searching for volunteers of all ages and abilities to help: • Plant trees and create community woodlands • Cultivate Copeland’s nature reserves • Improve the grounds of Distington Walled Gardens and Whitehaven Cemetery • Research and apply for funding opportunities not available to the council View the full story here. Anyone who is interested in getting involved should email [email protected] or call 01946 598300. Success for first Young Entrepreneurs Market Our first Young Entrepreneurs Market has been hailed a resounding success – and our next one will take place on July 10. The first market was held on Whitehaven’s King Street on June 12 and featured 14 young stallholders selling everything from cakes, candles and crafts to clothing, jewellery, gifts and paintings. All stallholders reported strong sales, and many town centre shops and cafes reported an upturn in trade as a result of the increased footfall. Live music was performed by Zoe Warren, Chloe Fawcett and Grace Price.