Garich Partnership Info 080121
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Garioch Community Planning E-Bulletin 8 January 2021 If you have information which you think we should include in a future bulletin, please e-mail or forward it to [email protected] *PLEASE CHECK EACH SECTION FOR NEW AND UPDATED INFORMATION* (Photo credit: Aberdeenshire Council Image Library) Contents : (click on heading links below to skip to relevant section) Guidance Service Changes Community Resilience Support & Advice Health & Wellbeing Survey & Consultations Funding Guidance Links to national and local guidance *NEW* Latest Update from The Scottish Government From Tuesday 5 January, mainland Scotland will move from Level 4 to a temporary Lockdown, with new guidance to stay at home except for essential purposes. Here is a summary of what the First Minister announced: • A stay-at-home order will be in place from midnight on 4 Jan 2021 and will become law just as it was in lockdown in March last year . It will only be permissible to leave home for essential reasons. • There will be no limit on exercise. However, outdoor gatherings are now going to be at a max of 2 people from two households. • Those people who were shielding and can’t work at home, are now being told not to go. The Chief Medical officer will be writing to everyone on that list. • Places of worship are to close from Friday unless for broadcast. • School settings - The First Minister confirmed that she is now extending the school closure until 1 st Feb soonest . This applies to nursery, primary and secondary schools. Home learning will happen until then, for all pupils expect vulnerable and children of key workers. The process for those families has already been published . The First Minister said that she was extending closure now, with the hope of ensuring that schools are the first to begin to re-open when the time comes. All of the above will be in place for the month of January, at the earliest. The Scottish Islands in level 3 will remain in that level for the meantime, although it is being closely monitored. Please see the video below for the full announcement. *NEW* British Deaf Association - Guidance There are some very important videos on this page from the British Deaf Association on the latest news, lockdown, self-isolation support plus more. Helpful Links The Scottish Government - Protect Scotland App NHS Inform - Website Page (British Sign Language and easy-read advice ) NHS Grampian Covid-19 Website - Staff Page Scottish Community Development Centre - Advice for Community Groups, Organisations and Volunteer Networks Ready Scotland Website - Advice and guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic Back to Top Service Changes *NEW* Aberdeenshire Council - Gritting Update We have to prioritise which routes are gritted and ploughed owing to the vastness of our road network totalling around 3,370 miles in length – that’s 10.3% of the non-trunk road network in Scotland. This means that in times of severe winter weather there may be a delay before we are in a position to treat more minor roads and residential streets. It is impractical to provide a precautionary treatment to all of the roads in Aberdeenshire, therefore we have developed a Primary Treatment Network comprising mainly A-class and other busy roads linking our communities. With regards to footpaths, people have to recognise the finite resources which are available to us as council and, as with our significant roads network, we have to prioritise the busy town centre areas where there is most pedestrian traffic. We do provide grit bins so people can treat public areas not included on the usual gritter route, so please use them to treat your local area – just don’t remove vast quantities for your own personal use. You can ask for grit bins to be refilled online here . You can check which routes we plan to grit here . To read the full post, please click here . *NEW* Aberdeenshire Council - Waste Services Our household recycling centres will remain open during the lockdown, staff levels permitting. Based on Scottish Government guidance, visiting a recycling centre is permitted as essential travel, however, please only travel to a recycling centre if absolutely necessary. Remember you need to book a time slot to visit a recycling centre - this is to maintain physical-distancing to protect both visitors and staff, to reduce waiting times and to avoid build-up of traffic on the neighbouring roads; the booking system is expected to be in place as long as physical distancing measures are required. To book your slot visit our website . *NEW* Live Life Aberdeenshire - Latest Covid-19 Update All our sports and leisure facilities and most of our services will continue to be unavailable until at least January 31 as required by the latest Covid-19 lockdown. We operate sport and cultural services on behalf of Aberdeenshire Council and closed facilities and stopped most of our services for the festive break on Christmas Eve following the move to Level 4 restrictions. Subsequent to the announcement by the First Minister this week that areas subject to Level 4 restrictions will move to a temporary lockdown from Tuesday, January 5, all sports and leisure facilities and cultural venues across Aberdeenshire will remain closed until at least January 31. For more information on the services being suspended and details for requesting a refund, please click here . Aberdeenshire Council - Volunteer Snow Wardens We introduced the Volunteer Snow Warden Scheme to actively support members of the local community who wish to offer their spare time to manually clear snow from publicly-adopted footways and footpaths. The scheme runs from approximately 1st November to 31st March. It requires groups of volunteers to nominate a snow warden leader who is responsible for carrying out duties assigned to them by the scheme. To find out more about becoming a volunteer snow warden team member or leader, view our Snow Warden Scheme - welcome pack (pdf 380KB) . It also includes instructions on how to apply. Part of the application process includes taking council-approved Snow Warden Scheme - training (pdf 229KB) . View Snow Wardens Scheme privacy notice (pdf 82.2KB) . Snow warden leaders can return their application form to their local Roads office by email: • Banff and Buchan: [email protected] • Buchan: [email protected] • Formartine: [email protected] • Garioch: [email protected] • Kincardine and Mearns: [email protected] • Marr: [email protected] Alternatively, you can post it to the addresses listed here . Helpful Links Aberdeenshire Council - parentsportal.scot Aberdeenshire Council - myAberdeenshire Back to Top Community Resilience The Grampian Assistance Hub If you are told you need to self-isolate and need some support there is help available through the Grampian COVID-19 Assistance Hub. Launched back in late March, it remains open and offering advice to people across the area. Go onto the website www.GCAH.org.uk or call freephone 0808 196 3384 weekdays between 9am and 5pm. Please be aware that if you'd like to offer to volunteer, you need to register on the hub. Live Life Aberdeenshire - Knit a Cosy Bosie Do you or your friends like to knit? You could help some of the most vulnerable in our society this winter by contributing knitted garments to help keep them warm. Live Life Aberdeenshire has teamed up with colleagues in Aberdeenshire Community Planning to launch the initiative. It's a chance for people to be kind to others in a time of need, with donations of knitted or crocheted items such as hats, scarves, lap blankets, pairs of socks or gloves in any colours or sizes being sought. The items will then be gifted to someone who would benefit from a Cosy Bosie to help them get through the colder months ahead. Community groups who can help co-ordinate the distribution of Cosy Bosies in Aberdeenshire are also encouraged to get in touch. Donations of knitted items can be made by booking a time slot at one of the library service’s Click and Collect locations. See: https://bit.ly/CnCLLA If you’re a community group who would like to get involved please email [email protected] and a member of the project team will be in touch. For further details about how to get involved see: http://bit.ly/CosyBosie The Garioch Partnership - Interactive Map The Garioch Partnership have launched a new interactive map to help you find out about support organisations and resilience groups operating in the Garioch area. It includes the areas which each group covers and contact details if you would like to get in touch with the groups. Aberdeenshire Support Map - Click here to view The Aberdeenshire Rural Partnership Federation have published an Aberdeenshire-wide map compiling the 6 local maps together, including TGP's map above. If you click on your area, it will take you to your local map. By clicking on your area in the local map, you will find a list of the resilience groups near you who can provide support and help. Community Councils There are 9 Community Councils which cover the Garioch area of Aberdeenshire. You can find contact details for each Community Council here . Back to Top Support & Advice *NEW* Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action - Operational Changes AVA would like to announce that with immediate effect, their Development Officers will support Third Sector and Community Groups within the below revised areas. Please take time to familiarise yourself with your new AVA Development Officer. In this new year they look forward to working with all of their partners both in the immediate future as the impact of Covid restrictions have to be managed, and in the longer term when thing settle and things go back to normal.