Update from Steve Maddern, Director of Public Health |
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While over 470,000 vaccinations against COVID-19 have been given to Swindon residents, there are still 22,112 adults aged 18 and over in Swindon who have not yet received a COVID-19 vaccine. If you haven’t had your first, second, third, or booster dose yet, it’s never too late – book yours today to protect yourself and others around you.
Every vaccine given has the potential to make a huge difference, either by protecting the individual from becoming ill, or helping them to become less infectious to others. We’re working closely with the region’s Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to get out into the heart of the community to make sure residents can get their COVID-19 vaccination in a convenient and familiar location. Find a local walk-in vaccination centre near you.
Another initiative available is our ‘grab a cab’ scheme. Swindon residents who are experiencing financial hardship or who have mobility issues and no practical means to get to a local vaccination centre, can book a free return taxi journey to a COVID-19 vaccination site. The scheme has now been extended until the end of March 2022, so book your journey now if you’re eligible. Find out more information on our website.
Restrictions may have lifted across the country, but COVID-19 is still with us and there are things we can all continue to do in order to protect ourselves and others around us. Keep washing your hands regularly, let fresh air in when you’re meeting with others, consider wearing a face covering when in crowded, indoor spaces, get your vaccination if you haven’t already, and test before meeting others in crowded places or meeting someone who is at higher risk of getting seriously ill from COVID-19.
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Latest COVID-19 case rate data |
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From 30 January to 5 February, there were 2,379 new COVID-19 cases in Swindon.
As of yesterday (10 Feb), the COVID-19 case rate in Swindon was 1,067 per 100k people, while the respective South West and England averages were 1,027 and 837 per 100k people. Sadly, a further three people in Swindon have died within 28 days of testing positive for COVID-19.
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Latest vaccination figures |
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As of 6 February, 85.6 per cent of people aged 12 and over in Swindon have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 79.8 per cent of people aged 12 and over have received both doses.
The percentage of people aged 18 and over in Swindon who have received a booster or third dose is 68.3 per cent.
To protect yourself and those around you, book your COVID-19 vaccine if you’re eligible and haven’t already had yours.
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COVID-19 guidance and news |
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Vaccine clinics
Next week, we will be holding two vaccine clinics, offering first, second and booster COVID-19 vaccine doses:
- Tuesday, 15 February from 8am to 4pm – Sanford House, Sanford Street, Swindon, SN1 1HE
- Thursday, 17 February from 9am to 5pm - Eastcott Community Centre, 7 Savernake Street, Swindon, SN1 3LZ
Visit our website
and take a look under ‘getting vaccinated’ for all our upcoming vaccine clinics, or you can also find the dates of other local walk-in clinics via the NHS walk-in site finder.
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Changes to travel guidance
From today (11 Feb), if you’re fully vaccinated you'll no longer need to take a COVID-19 test either before or after you arrive in England. You do still need to complete a passenger locator form.
If you're not fully vaccinated, you'll need to take a pre-departure test. After you arrive in England, you'll need to take a PCR test on or before day two, but you will only need to self-isolate if it’s positive or unclear.
Find out more on the Government's website.
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Support with rising energy prices
With energy costs on the rise, we know that many households will be feeling the pinch at the moment.
If you’re struggling to afford your energy bills or think you may get into difficulty, help is available. Ofgem, the UK’s independent energy regulator, recommends:
- Agreeing a payment plan: contact your supplier as soon as you can if you are worried about paying your energy bills. Under Ofgem rules, your supplier must work with you to agree a payment plan that you can afford.
- Checking schemes, grants and benefits: a number of schemes are available to help with home heating and energy costs. Check the Citizens Advice website for a list of schemes you may be able to take advantage of.
- Getting debt advice: you can access advice on managing debt problems and budgeting from the Government’s national Money Helper service.
For local support on home energy matters, contact Warm and Safe Wiltshire
on freephone 0800 038 5722.
The Warm and Safe Wiltshire advice service is part-funded by the Council and last year helped local residents access energy bill savings worth £113,207. This included access to funding from the Surviving Winter grants, the Warm Home Discount scheme, and pre-payment voucher support, as well as energy saving measures and heating repairs.
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Revitalising our heritage quarter
If you’re going past the Mechanics’ Institute over the next few weeks, you might see some construction workers on site.
We are working to secure the building by improving the hoardings that protect the historic building from being broken into. Workers will be on site over the coming weeks to take down the old, worn-out hoarding boards and replace them with new and secure ones.
This will make sure the building is kept safe and will give us a platform to move forward as we await the report of our recent condition survey.
Once we have our findings, we will aim to work with the current building’s owner to find a sustainable future for the site and make it safe for regeneration.
The Mechanics’ Institute is a key part of Swindon’s history and of our iconic Railway Village, and we want to see it move forward in the best way possible.
Through the Heritage Action Zone (HAZ), we are working with a number of partners including Historic England and the Mechanics' Institution Trust on a long-term plan to bring Swindon’s Mechanics’ Institute back to life.
As the building is privately owned, it's a complicated task which will take many years to take forward.
To find out more about how we are revitalising our heritage quarter and how it fits into our plans for the town centre, visit our website.
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We want your views on Swindon’s street trading policy
We aim to encourage and deliver quality street markets in Swindon, but our existing Street Trading Policy may be unnecessarily restrictive in terms of how often markets are held and how long they are open for business.
A regular town centre street market is proposed for Wharf Green later this year, subject to a successful bid to the Government’s Towns Fund. It's proposed that the retail market, with up to 45 stalls, would run on Thursdays and Saturdays, while a Farmers and Fine Food Market would be held on the third Friday of each month.
Local people are therefore being asked whether the Street Trading Policy is ‘fit for purpose’ and the Council is particularly keen to hear the views of members of the public, members of the trade, and other organisations before taking a final decision on whether to update the policy.
The consultation can be completed online, with a paper copy of the questions available on request. All queries should be emailed to licensing@swindon.gov.uk, with the subject ‘Street Trading Policy and Fees’.
All responses to the consultation must be received by 5pm on Monday, 28 March 2022.
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Fly-tipping is illegal and perpetrators will be caught
You might be prepared to fly-tip, but are you prepared to get caught? We are continuing to crack down on fly-tipping in the Borough.
Our teams have been out on the streets carrying out patrols in fly-tipping hot spots and we’ve installed mobile cameras around the town to help catch perpetrators. In fact, between May 2021 and 31 January 2022, we fined 64 people for illegally dumping their rubbish in our town.
Despite our continued efforts, fly-tipping isn’t something we can tackle on our own. There are two really important things you can do to help us keep Swindon clean and tidy.
Firstly, please report fly-tipping on our website if you spot it. Secondly, please dispose of your waste responsibly and only hire licensed waste carriers to take your waste away for you. You can check for registered waste carriers on the Environment Agency’s website.
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Making the streets of Swindon safer
In October last year, we announced that we’d received £550,000 from the Government’s Safer Streets fund, to introduce measures aimed at tackling violent crime and harassment against women and girls. This was in addition to £432,000 also received last year from the Safer Streets fund, to focus on violent and acquisitive crime (such as burglary or theft).
Over the past few months, we’ve been working closely with the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) for Wiltshire and Swindon to identify and begin introducing the most effective measures to keep residents, and particularly women, safe in our town.
This includes plans for things you might expect, like new CCTV cameras and additional lighting in key locations. But we’ve also begun working with schools and colleges, businesses and workplaces, to hold mentoring and guidance sessions, and raise awareness of the impact on victims and how support can be provided. These sessions are also a chance to discuss the importance of reporting concerns and incidents, and the responsibility of everyone to think about these types of behaviours.
Over the coming weeks and months, we hope to share more about the measures we’re looking to introduce around the town with the funding we’ve received, so keep an eye out on our channels for further updates.
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Improving road safety outside local schools
To help make the areas around local schools safer, we’ll be working over the next two weeks to introduce new road safety measures around several schools across Swindon, as part of our School Safe Environment Zones (SSEZ) programme.
These new measures will be introduced to twelve schools as part of this year’s programme, in the hopes of encouraging behaviour change, and improving road safety and congestion issues around each of the schools. The measures will be bespoke to the needs of each school but could include road signs, road markings, flashing lights, waiting restrictions, and cycling facilities. We’ll also be introducing two more School Streets at St Catherine’s RC Primary School and Seven Fields Primary School, which aim to create traffic-free roads outside schools to provide families with the space they need to get to school safely.
Information about the plans for each school can be found on our website, or visit this page for more information on School Streets, including our FAQs.
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Last chance to nominate someone for the Pride of Swindon Awards
This weekend is your last chance to nominate someone for the Pride of Swindon Awards!
Since 2009, over 145 individuals and 44 teams have been acknowledged and honoured for their incredible work in the community – do you know someone who you think should be the next winner?
They could be a volunteer who has given their time selflessly for years, a local health care worker who has gone the extra mile, a child or adult who has displayed remarkable courage, or an extra-special neighbour.
To submit a nomination, all you need to do is visit our website. Nominations close on Monday (14 Feb).
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National Apprenticeship Week
As part of National Apprenticeship Week this week, Nathan Hall has been awarded the New College Swindon Housing Apprentice of the Year for 2021. Having completed his apprenticeship in the Lettings Customer Service Team, Nathan now has a permanent post as an Assessment Officer.
He said: “I would recommend anyone to do an apprenticeship, as it was a great way to start my career and develop my skill set to take forward for the future
“I knew from a younger age that I wanted to become an apprentice to test my limits and improve myself as a worker. I have learnt valuable life skills, gained an understanding of the Housing industry I am in, and studying for a Level 3 qualification in Housing Practice has enhanced my knowledge of the social housing sector; all whilst being paid!"
While Nathan is no longer an apprentice, we currently have over 70 apprentices employed at the Council. You can learn more about post-16 options and look for apprenticeships on our website. You can also read more about apprenticeships on the Government’s website.
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Together we can tackle climate change
Eleanor and her family live just outside Swindon in Aldbourne. In her personal life, Eleanor has become a powerful actor in the fight for a safer planet – making changes wherever she can to shrink her family’s carbon footprint.
“We have tried to concentrate on changes that have the biggest impact on reducing our carbon footprint. We rarely fly, we drive an electric car and we have installed solar panels.
“Our solar panels have decreased our energy bills and we have almost made back what we paid for them. On a sunny day we often produce more energy than we consume and we are able to charge our car for free.
“We also use the Co Charger app so that we can share our electric car charger with our neighbours. This allows those without a driveway to purchase an electric car without having to worry about how they are going to charge it.”
Eleanor believes that every action you take towards becoming greener is worthwhile. If you want to act, but don’t know where to start, visit the Be the Change webpages.
If you’ve been making changes in your life to live more sustainably – we want to hear all about it! Reply to this newsletter and let us know what you’ve been up to.
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February Half Term
Experience an electrifying February Half Term at the STEAM Museum
It’s been 130 years since the end of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s broad gauge railway system. To mark the occasion, STEAM’s new exhibition programme for 2022: ‘Changing Trains’ explores the story of modernisation on the Great Western Railway. The Museum is sparking minds and imaginations with a week-long series of family activities this February half term:
- From 19 February: High Voltage – Electrification of the Western Network. STEAM’s new special exhibition illuminates the story behind the scheme to Electrify the western railway network.
- Tuesday 22 February - Creative Family Activity Day
- Tuesday 22 February - Create a Comic Workshop - 8 to 13 year olds can create comic book heroes and villains with illustrator and cartoonist, Jack Brougham.
- Thursday 24 February: Buzz Wire Workshop - Learn more about electrical circuits with education specialists, STEMWorks. Children can design and build their own personal buzz wire game to take home.
- Friday 25 February: ‘Psst, pass it on!’ Morse Code and Semaphore Workshop. Children can become code breakers, send their own private messages and uncover clues to find hidden secrets.
Tickets are now available to book online all the way up to 27 February, please visit the STEAM website to book your place.
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Five things you need to know about COVID-19 |
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If you want to get the latest updates about major road schemes, news from STEAM and Lydiard, library information or even tips for tenants, sign up to our other newsletters by clicking the button below.
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