Covid lockdown service updates

Below is the current situation with many of our key services as of midday on Thursday 5 November:

Park and ride

Services will stop at the end of tomorrow (Friday 6 November). We will close Sturry Road and Wincheap completely. New Dover Road will stay open for parking only, at a charge of 50p a day, for people who want to walk or cycle into the city.

Car parking

From Saturday (7 November), we will offer all day parking for £3.50 at Castle Street multi storey car park. This is to help essential workers who have to come into Canterbury, and exactly replicates the same all day value offered by park and ride.

The current free parking arrangements in our non-ANPR car parks for NHS staff and care key workers are continuing. Please continue to display the usual notice in your windscreen.

Bin collections 

These are continuing as scheduled. We are working closely with Serco to monitor staffing numbers. In the event that we have major disruption, we will prioritise residual waste collections.

Public toilets

These will stay open for now, although this is dependent on staff from our contractor Monitor still being available to open, close and clean them.

Play areas and parks

These are also staying open in line with government guidance.

Work with rough sleepers

On this occasion, we have no ‘instruction’ to care for rough sleepers during the lockdown, but of course we intend to do so. We are currently looking at the service we can provide, both in the lockdown period and across winter generally. That may include using some hotel provision, but more information will follow on this shortly.

Business grants

We are working with emerging guidance from the government on support for businesses during the lockdown. It seems likely that the same categories of grants will be made available (through us) to businesses, but with slightly different criteria. We will receive funding to do this from government, and our job will be to get that funding to businesses as soon as possible – but that will depend on getting the guidance and funding as quickly as possible.

Community support

Local residents who need extra help will be directed to the now well-established Kent Together 24-hour phone line (03000 41 92 92). This keeps things simple for the public, avoiding duplication and confusion. However, we will keep a close eye on demand for this service from our residents and will be ready to respond if any additional local services are required. At this point, we will not be reintroducing the community hub at Kingsmead.

Venues

Our museums and other local venues such as the King’s Hall are closed in line with government guidance.

Wincheap bootfair

This is now suspended.

Markets

We believe that the early guidance allows markets to stay active if they are selling essential goods – but we need to see detailed guidance on that.

Spring Lane Neighbourhood Centre

The centre is now closed and digital sessions will take place with young people instead.

Herne Bay bandstand

This is now closed.

Published: 5 November 2020