In response to the Coronavirus crisis, Rotherham Council has announced
measures being taken to help keep the public safe and to protect vital
services for its residents.
We will be doing our utmost to prioritise the most critical services,
especially those relied upon by the most vulnerable people in our
community.
To protect the public we are closing several public-facing council
services
The Council has taken the difficult decision to temporarily close or
suspend some services until further notice to minimise the potential
spread of Coronavirus.
These are with the safety of service users and Council employees in mind
and are in-line with Government guidance on social distancing.
These include:
All Children’s Centres
Crowden Outdoor Education Centre
Rotherham Civic Theatre
Herringthorpe Stadium
The caravan park and soft play at Thrybergh Country Park
In addition, some parts of Clifton Park Museum will be closed from this
weekend, but wedding ceremonies will be honoured at present.
Next Wednesday’s planned Council meeting has also been cancelled by the
Mayor. Other meetings will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Making sure vulnerable residents get the support that they need
The Council will be prioritising the needs of residents who are most
vulnerable to the coronavirus. We are working with our partners in the
Health Service to help to identify those most likely to be in need.
For those facing personal financial difficulties, we will be continuing
to provide welfare advice and support as part of Rotherham’s Single
Advice Model. Please click here to find out more information.
We are aware that many residents will want to help by supporting their
neighbours or others who may be in self-isolation, and that there will
be residents in need of help with some tasks who will not be sure who
they can turn to. We are working together with Voluntary Action
Rotherham to help support and coordinate this activity and more
information will be available soon.
We will be working through the business support from Government
The government has announced a number of measures to support businesses
through what is likely to be challenging period. We are working our way
through these announcements, and the government guidance when it becomes
available, and will make more information available in due course.
Latest advice for businesses is available here.
We are reassessing our staff work practices during the crisis
For Council staff, we are moving to home working where it is appropriate
and practical, or in other cases rotating the time they are spending in
our buildings. Rockingham Professional Development Centre has been
closed and staff normally located there will be working from home or
from other Council buildings. Staff who need to self-isolate will be
able to do so at no detriment to themselves, and we will continue to do
all that we can to maintain services relied upon by the public.
We encourage residents to use our online services or to contact us by
telephone rather than coming to our buildings wherever possible.
Leader of the Council, Councillor Chris Read said:
“These are unprecedented times and no one should doubt the seriousness
of the situation. The coronavirus pandemic will define the way of life
for everyone, individually and as a society – locally, nationally,
globally – for the immediate and foreseeable future. The Council’s
priority, alongside our partners, is the protection of life and we will
all have an individual role to play in that.
“We will be guided by the latest national and international advice
coming from our leading scientists and public health specialists, but
underpinning our response will be the resilience, kindness and community
spirit for which Rotherham is renowned.
“I want to pay tribute to the public servants who are once again rising
to the occasion. It is in the most difficult of circumstances that we
see the invaluable role that our public services play in maintaining our
way of life. But the public should be in no doubt that our public
servants are also local residents, they fall ill like the rest of us,
and prioritising their efforts at a time of enormous pressure on
services will mean that we cannot simply operate business as usual.
“I would urge residents to follow the latest guidance from the
government, to act responsibly, and I thank them for their patience and
endurance over the coming weeks and months.”