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It’s been a little while since we sent you a round-up of how our services are operating during the coronavirus pandemic, so we thought we’d get in touch with an update.
All our key services are running as normal and we’ll be back in touch if anything changes - so watch out for this email in the weeks to come.
In the meantime, you can keep up to date with everything we’re doing on our website at www.chelmsford.gov.uk/coronavirus/ and we’ll also be posting regular updates on the @ChelmsCouncil Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Stay home, stay safe and have a good weekend.
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Waste and recycling: collections are running as normal with no disruptions.
Street care services: all street cleaning is continuing. With more people than usual exercising outdoors with their pets, our red dog waste bins are filling up quickly. The street care team will continue to empty these regularly, but if the bin you’d like to use is full, please take your bag home to dispose of it.
Customer services: you can phone us between 8.45am and 4.45pm, Monday to Friday. Call 01245 606606 or contact us online via www.chelmsford.gov.uk/contactus.
Housing: the housing team is responding to all housing enquiries as usual. If you think you may be at risk of homelessness, please contact us as soon as possible.
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Chelmsford Cemetery and Crematorium: services are still operating with appropriate social distancing measures and the cemetery is open to public visits. The Memorial Chapel is closed but staff are responding to enquiries by phone and email. If you are attending a service, please check on the
Crematorium website for more details.
Car parks: Most of our car parks are open but Meadows Retail car park, Townfield Street car park and High Chelmer are closed to the public. Season ticket holders affected by these closures may park in one of our other car parks instead.
Parking: If you’re an NHS carer or key worker, you can now park in a number of restricted areas including any of our car parks; in loading and unloading bays; in on-street Pay and Display bays (Chelmsford and Brentwood only); in resident permit bays; and on single yellow lines. To be eligible for this, you just need to display evidence of your employment in your windscreen, as sent to you by your employer. More details can be found here along with other information about parking in Chelmsford.
Parks: Hylands Park and Saltcoats Park and Compass Gardens are currently closed to vehicles, but their pedestrian entrances are open. All other parks and green spaces managed by Chelmsford City Council remain open, although equipped play areas, outdoor gyms and public toilets are closed for now.
Retail Market: the fruit and veg stall, butcher, fresh Italian pasta stall, and vegan and vegetarian food stall will be selling essential items from 8.30am to 1.30pm, Tuesday to Saturday at the front of the park end of the market. These stalls are also offering deliveries to the local area. Pet supplies are available on Fridays and Saturdays.
High Street Market: this will be operating on Friday and Saturday, but only with stalls selling essential food items, including Brown Bread, The Cheese & Pie Man and the fruit and veg. Both markets are observing social distancing measures.
Planning and Building Control: routine site visits have been suspended and planning advice will only be given in written form. The planning team is not currently posting site notices. The building control team have replaced physical site inspections with virtual ones.
Licensing: the licensing team can still be contacted by phone and online.
Pest control and stray dogs: Pest control bookings are only being taken for rats and mice at present. The stray dogs service is operating but reduced.
Noise and nuisance enforcement: services are operating normally, and you can still report problems, although non-essential visits will be reduced.
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Hylands Estate: All buildings on the estate are currently closed but the grounds are still open to pedestrians.
Leisure centres: all four of our leisure centres, including Riverside, remain closed until further notice but instructors have been busy creating home workouts and exercise classes from Body Combat to Meditation for Beginners. You can find all of these videos on the @chelmsfordcitysports Facebook page.
Chelmsford City Theatres: the theatres are closed and refunds for all affected shows are being issued. Please don’t worry if you haven’t heard about your refund yet; our box office will be in touch with you directly as soon as they can.
Chelmsford Museums: the museums are closed but you can still see highlights from our galleries online.
3foot People Festival: this year’s festival for pre-schoolers in Hylands Park has been cancelled but 3foot will be co-hosting Play At Home Fest on Sat 23 and Sun 24 May, running 3foot pre-schooler stage from their Facebook page. There’ll be more information in the next few weeks about the line-up for this mini festival – follow @3footfestival on Facebook and Instagram for updates.
Essex County Council recycling centres: these are not currently open to the public.
Essex County Council Park and Ride: these services have been suspended for now.
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