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Coronavirus (Covid-19) update - 1 April 2021
Please find below our latest Coronavirus (Covid-19) update for East Devon residents and businesses with information we hope will be of interest to you.
In this issue...
- Updated Covid restrictions
- Help shape Arts and Culture in East Devon
- Don't lose your right to vote in the upcoming elections
- Easter recycling and waste collection dates
Covid restrictions from 29 March 2021
On Monday the rules and restrictions in place in England were slightly relaxed to enable people to meet outside in groups of up to six or two households. This handy table updates you on the current restrictions in place and what you can and can't do.
The key thing is to remember if you are outside with others to continue to regularly sanitise or wash your hands, cover your face, give others space and to get plenty of fresh air.
Read more
The change in restrictions from Monday 29 March has enabled East Devon District Council to be reopen its Multi-use Games Areas, Outdoor Gyms and Skateparks.
More information on where these are located can be found on our East Devon website.
Chance for people out of work in Devon to become keyworkers
Proud to Care Devon has launched a campaign to recruit 1,500 new Healthcare Assistants and Care Workers in the county, particularly in domiciliary care and care homes. The campaign is encouraging those who may find themselves out of work to consider if their skills and values are suitable for a career in care.
It is estimated that since the start of the pandemic, the number of people in Devon claiming Jobseekers Allowance and Universal Credit has increased by over 11,000 and there are almost 20,000 unemployed people in Devon.
The Find Your Calling campaign aims to mobilise an army of new care workers in Devon, encouraging people with the right values and skills to apply. The campaign calls for people to register their interest by completing a quick online form.
Applicants will get a call back and the offer of free one-to-one support to find out if a job in care and health is right for them.
Help to shape art and culture in East Devon!
Photo credits: Simon Tutty, Sidmouth Folk Week, Jolyon Holroyd
Calling all East Devon cultural organisations, practitioners + communities. Please complete our new Arts and Culture East Devon (ACED) survey. Tell us how we can best support culture in East Devon.
Online survey
Deadline 9 April 2021
We have been working as part of the Clean Devon Partnership to create a campaign which aims to protect our environment for wildlife, residents, businesses and visitors helping to prevent, detect and deter littering in Devon.
Keep an eye out for our ‘find a bin or take it home’ campaign which is expected to run over the next few months.
Read more
Don't lose the right to have your say!
Elections are an important opportunity for residents to have their say about the issues that matter to them and their local communities.
In order to vote in these important elections, residents must be on the electoral register. With the deadline to register to vote fast approaching, anyone who has not registered at their current address can still make sure they are registered in time.
The deadline to register to vote is midnight on Monday 19 April. It takes just five minutes to apply online.
There are a number of ways to vote in the May elections including, voting by post, voting by proxy (by asking someone trusted to vote on your behalf), or voting in person at a polling station.
Although the elections are not until May, plans are already being made to help voters stay safe when casting their vote.
This year, it is advised that those who can, vote by post, however, polling stations will still be open, and measures will be in place to ensure that they are COVID secure. These measures will include social distancing and availability of hand-sanitiser, as well as asking voters to wear a mask and bring their own pencil to use on their ballot paper.
Election pages
LED update: Save the date - April 12
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LED are to welcome our members and the wider community back to our sites for outdoor group exercise classes and tennis across East Devon. These classes are a small but important step in the roadmap to reopening our sites and continuing to support the health and wellbeing of East Devon residents. All classes operate within Covid secure guidelines as outlined by industry body UK Active, this included social distancing, hand sanitisation and anti-viral spray available to all members too. For more information please visit the LED app.
Our team are currently working really hard to finish plans for reopening our Leisure Centres and swimming pools across East Devon. We hope to fully reopen our centres on Monday 12th April, subject to the government update on Monday 5th April. LED Community Leisure will continue to operate in accordance with guidelines from industry body UKActive to ensure our centres are safe and hygienic upon reopening and will provide further updates to their members shortly. This update will include details of when facilities will reopen and membership reactivation procedures.
Gym Workout Pods
We know that there are lots of keen customers to get back into exercise and therefore we have extended our gyms into our studio and squash court spaces.
Find out more
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Restart Grants
In the budget on the 3 March 2021 the Chancellor announced confirmation of the Restart Grants for businesses that were forced to close during the latest lockdown.
Restart grants are a one-off cash grant to help businesses with re-opening and getting back on their feet following the lockdown. The Restart Grant scheme will replace the monthly Local Restrictions Support Grant (Closed) and Local Restrictions Support Grant (Open) which are both now closed. The grants available will be determined by the sector your business is in and the RV rate. These are as follows:
Non-essential Retail
Up to and Exactly £15k = £2,667
Over £15k and less than £51k = £4,000
Exactly £51k and over = £6,000
Hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym business
Up to and Exactly £15k = £8,000
Over £15k and less than £51k = £12,000
Exactly £51k and over = £18,000
East Devon is currently working on our scheme to be able to pay these to businesses via an on-line form. Please keep an eye on our website for confirmation on when this will be going live in April. This scheme will come to an end on 21 June 2021.
If you want to stay up to date with the latest news about grants for East Devon businesses, or other news about business opportunities, funding and training, you must subscribe to East Devon Business news
Our latest news headlines and newsletters
Dates of next East Devon virtual council meetings
Over the next fortnight the following East Devon District Council virtual meetings are taking place:
The meetings can all be viewed on our YouTube channel by searching for 'East Devon District Council' or by subscribing.
Agendas
Shortage of plastics means we need your recycling more than ever!
We need as many plastics pots, trays, tubs and bottles as you can possibly recycle in your green recycling sack.
The British Plastics Federation reports that the UK is facing a raw material shortage, due to a shortage of plastic polymers.
This could hold back our post-pandemic economic recovery.
Industry sectors that need a constant supply of polymers are: healthcare, food, water supply, sanitation, transport and energy efficient building construction.
But please note, we are unable to recycle ‘film’ products such as: bread bags, bubble wrap, carrier bags, polythene, which contaminate the other plastic materials.
Your recycling benefits our environment and our economy.
Thank you for recycling.
For more information relating to recycling and disposals, please visit our website.
Bin collection dates changed over Easter
- Good Friday (2 April) collections will be made on Saturday, 3 April.
- There will be no collections on Easter Monday (5 April) and the week will move one day on as usual with the Friday collections taking place on Saturday, 10 April.
Read more
Creative Cabin Shorts
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We hope you are enjoying THG’s Creative Cabin Shorts, connecting to nature and the landscapes around us. Dedicated to all the extraordinary employees across the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust and Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust, NHS staff and key workers across the region. In partnership with East Devon AONB, Blackdown Hills AONB and Wild East Devon.
CREATIVE CABIN SHORT 10 Tony Whitehead 'Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning'
Enjoy the dawn chorus with Tony Whitehead, a sound recordist and Dartmoor-based artist with a passion for bird song.
Listen to the full recording. Scroll to your favourite birdsong: willow warbler, song thrush, blackcap, tawny owl, the elusive nightjar and many more.
Creative Cabin Shorts
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Wild East Devon Operations Update
With recent relaxation in rules you can now meet at our nature reserves outdoors either in a group of 6 (from any number of households), or in a group of any size from up to 2 households (a household can include an existing support bubble, if eligible). You must still minimise the number of journeys you make where possible so please only visit one of our reserves if you are part of the local community. Please see below for updates on our reopening plan:
- Our ten nature reserves remain open.
Residents of East Devon can still use the green, open spaces as part of their permitted daily exercise while observing social distancing measures. We ask all visitors to our reserves to take extra care when making contact with surfaces such as gates.
- Our events will resume on 26 April with Bluebell Week.
Look out for more info this month!
- We will resume volunteer activities on our sites on 12 April.
Recruitment of new volunteers is now open. To register your interest, please email wild@eastdevon.gov.uk
- We will be adding daily content to our social media platforms @wildeastdevon so you can stay in the loop with what we’re up to.
- We aim to reopen the five Bird Hides at Seaton Wetlands on 12 April, Black Hole Marsh and the Axe Estuary can still be viewed from our open-air viewing facilities in the meantime.
- The toilets at Seaton Wetlands will remain open for now, continuing with the more regular cleaning schedule we currently have in place.
- The Discovery Hut at Seaton Wetlands remains closed until further notice.
- Our Tramper Hire service at Seaton Wetlands will resume on 12 April for select dates. Please contact us if you'd like to hire the Tramper.
The Wild East Devon Team
To keep in touch with the Wild East Devon Team follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter or subscribe for their monthly newsletter.
NHS 111 service
Trusted sources of advice and information
Please make sure that you only follow advice from trusted, official sources:
Next edition
We plan to send out our next bulletin on Friday 16 April 2021.
Please forward this email to anyone you think would find it useful and encourage them to sign up.
You can also can share this update on social media and in any online groups you're part of by using this link to the update on our website.
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