Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update Briefing – 23 April 2020

1. Helping vulnerable residents

The council is continuing to proactively contact Central Bedfordshire residents who are known to be vulnerable and is arranging support to those in need.

More than 6,000 residents are identified to be clinically vulnerable and need to be shielded from the outbreak by staying at home at all times.

An additional 6,000 residents who are already known to the council and assessed to be vulnerable are also being contacted.

Additionally, anyone who needs help can contact the council via our website www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/covidhelp or our dedicated COVID-19 helpline on 0300 300 8900.

Across Central Bedfordshire and through the COVID Community Hub we continue to work with brilliant community and voluntary groups and organisations such as Dunstable Town Council to help meet the needs of our communities in these extraordinary times.

Any additional support you can provide to your local Good Neighbour scheme and other groups that are also supporting vulnerable residents in your parishes is welcomed and much appreciated. Community and Voluntary Services (CVS) have lots of helpful and useful information on their website.

2. Council service updates

Waste collections

We’re planning to restart collections of garden waste from next Monday (27 April), operating the normal service. Staff levels have stabilised which allows us to do so.

We have also restarted bulky waste collections from 21 April.

We expect both of these services to continue subject to no further staffing issues.

Unfortunately, we will not be able to collect additional waste, each household will be limited to two garden bags or one bin per collection.

Planning applications

In these extraordinary times, we are focussed on responding to the public health emergency. As part of this, we need to take account of the restrictions on all but essential travel and the requirement for social distancing. This has inevitably led to the interruption of many of our regular arrangements, including our democratic decision making meetings.

Under the COVID-19 Act, new regulations have been introduced which enable councils to resume these meetings by substituting previous legal requirements (for Councillors to meet in person) with new powers to operate in a virtual context.

We have now procured a new technology platform which will be piloted at a meeting of the Traffic Management Committee next week. Subject to this experience, our plan is to then roll out the application of the new model to all our public and democratic meetings during the coming weeks. In other words, we plan to move to formal Member decision-making committees operating virtually in line with the COVID-19 Act and facilitated by the new technology platform.

In the meantime, however, we are anxious to avoid suspending all decision making and particularly to do so in a way which will build a back log of key decisions and ultimately delay economic recovery in Central Bedfordshire. We have already cancelled the March Development Management Committee and have a statutory duty to determine applications within a reasonable time. Failure to do so would be grounds to appeal to the planning inspector.

Therefore we have instituted a temporary model for the consideration of some planning applications on 29th April. This model will enable some applications which would normally have been considered by the Development Management Committee to be shared with relevant local Members for comment and for a small Member panel to make recommendations to our Chief Executive, Richard Carr, to determine, with the use of his emergency powers. Richard has clarified that he will be especially sensitive to any applications which are likely to be contentious and is not expecting to make any decisions on any applications which fall into this category.

No decisions on planning applications have been taken under these arrangements thus far and we are expecting for this mechanism to be a purely interim measure whilst we adapt to the new technology for May.

Traffic Management meeting

The virtual Traffic Management meeting will be held on Tuesday 28 April at 10am.

The following items will be discussed at the meeting:

Salford Road, Brogborough – Waiting Restrictions
To seek approval for the installation of the proposed waiting restrictions on Salford Road at the junction with Bedford Road.
Bedford Road, Lower Stondon – Traffic Calming Measures
To seek approval for the introduction of the proposed traffic calming, measures, including a zebra crossing and proposed speed limit changes on Bedford Road, Lower Stondon.
High Street, Biggleswade – Pedestrian Crossing
To seek approval for the installation of the proposed zebra crossing on High Street, Biggleswade.
Everton Road, Potton – Traffic Calming Measures
To seek approval for the introduction of the proposed traffic calming measures on Everton Road, Potton.
Leighton Road and Mander Close, Toddington – No Waiting at Any Time Restrictions
To seek approval for the installation of the proposed ‘No Waiting at Any Time’ restrictions on Leighton Road extending into the junction of Mander Close, Toddington.
Wingfield Road and Toddington Road, Tebworth – Proposed Waiting Restrictions
To seek approval for the installation of the proposed ‘No Waiting at Any Time’ restrictions on Wingfield Road and Toddington Road, Tebworth.
High Street and Church Road, Eaton Bray – No Waiting at Any Time Restrictions
To seek approval for the installation of ‘No Waiting at Any Time’ restrictions on High Street and Church Road, Eaton Bray.

3. Postponement of By Elections and Neighbourhood Planning Referendum

Any election called to fill the vacancy in the office of Ward or Parish councillor that would otherwise have been held during the current time has under The Local Government and Police and Crime Commissioner (coronavirus)(postponement of elections and referendums) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020 been postponed to the ordinary day of elections in 2021 – 6 May 2021

Any Neighbourhood Planning Referendums that are called during the current time will under the above regulations now take place on the ordinary day of elections in 2021 – 6 May 2021.

Any polls that should have taken place between 25 April 2020 and 5 May 2021 will be treated as never having applied and will therefore now be scheduled to take place on the ordinary day of election in 2021– 6 May 2021.

We understand that further legislation will be laid to deal with governance arrangements caused by the inability to fill vacancies. There will also be legislation laid on a number of other electoral matters that flow from the deferment and postponement of elections.

The Government has indicated that the situation will be kept under review and if safe to do so, further legislation will be laid that will permit by-elections and referendums sooner than 6 May 2021.

4. Maintaining public awareness

Following the extension of the current lockdown restrictions for another three weeks, we are continuing to increase public awareness of the need to stay at home and the help available for the vulnerable. We’d like you to help with this. We will be sending you some of the latest Public Health England poster and materials we have created encouraging people to look out for each other and if they are worried about someone who is vulnerable and doesn’t have anyone to help them, to contact us. If you can display these in your localities that would be really helpful.

We’re also been updating some of our lamppost banners with similar messaging to push the stay at home message. If you have lamppost banners and want to update your banners too then please contact the communications team at communications@centralbedfordshrie.gov.uk