Latest on Keswick Market, town centres changes, swimming pool reopening and more

Allerdale Borough Council sent this bulletin at 07-08-2020 03:00 PM BST

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A weekly round-up of news from the council and partners - 7/8/2020

New safety measures introduced at Keswick Market

We've introduced a number of new measures at Keswick Market to help keep residents, visitors and traders safe.

The Council is responsible for the operation of the market, which runs in Main Street every Thursday and Saturday. When the market was reintroduced on June 18 it was done so with various safety measures which meet Government and NABMA guidelines in place.

However, the Council has introduced extra measures from this week following concerns raised about social distancing in Keswick town centre and how the market may be contributing to the issue. The Council urges everyone going into the town centre and the market to please respect social distancing and the measures that are in place to help keep residents, visitors, traders and staff safe.

Changes to Covid-19 measures in town centres

When non-essential high street shops were able to reopen in June we worked alongside the county council, our councillors and town councils to implement a number of changes, to make shopping and navigating your way through the town centres safer and in the last week some more have been introduced.

In Keswick (pictured) we’ve introduced a one-way system for pedestrians in Main Street (in the pedestrianised section where the market is held) and in Cockermouth a one-way system has also been introduced in Station Street.

In addition, we’ve worked with the county council and other local representatives to remove the barriers on Station Street in Cockermouth as it was felt they were no longer required.

Hurry... time running out to claim Covid-19 grant

There's just a few days left for eligible businesses and organisations in Allerdale to apply for a discretionary grant of up to £25,000. The scheme has been set-up to help businesses/charities affected by the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown.

The deadline for applications is 5pm, Monday (10th August).

Find out more

Cockermouth Pool successfully reopens

The pool at Cockermouth Leisure Centre successfully reopened this week. It has opened earlier than originally planned thanks to a fundraising effort by Cockermouth Swimming Club.

The pool officially reopened its doors on Monday for club members with public swimming sessions starting yesterday (August 6). The phased reopening allowed for the introduction of Covid-Secure protocols and to bring back from furlough and train staff in the new procedures.

Award for Allerdale staff member Jasmine

Congratulations to Jasmine Ritchie from our Housing Options team who has received a special award for her charity work during the coronavirus. The award has come from The Cumberland building society who set out to give ‘100 Thank Yous’ to people who have gone above and beyond to support their community during the pandemic.

Jasmine (pictured with her award) collected donations of things like lip balm, hand cream and other products to give to local NHS staff.

More about her work

WATCH: Virtual council meetings coming up

Next week the Council's Development Panel will meet again (Tues 11th Aug at 1pm) with two applications on the agenda. The Licensing Regulatory Panel will also meet on Friday (14th Aug at 1pm). The meetings will be streamed live on our YouTube channel.

View agendas

Latest on Covid-19 cases in Cumbria

The latest Covid-19 status report for Cumbria has been published by the county council. This week’s report shows a small increase in the number of cases in the county and has prompted a renewed call for people to continue to be vigilant, and follow social distancing guidelines.

There have been a total of 59 new positive cases confirmed in the county in the last week which is an increase of 12 on the week before. The latest figures also show that Carlisle and Eden have some of the highest testing rates in England and there are also high levels of contact tracing by the local teams across Cumbria.

While the increase in the number of cases is concerning, it remains well below the levels which have prompted local lockdown measures in Greater Manchester.

Libraries in Cumbria set to reopen

Cumbria County Council will be reopening its six main libraries from Monday (Aug 10), including Workington. The libraries will have amended opening times and are also running a Select & Collect service.