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8 January 2021
 We are now in a national lockdown and Plymouth residents should stay at home.
The measures mean that everyone should stay at home, except for specific reasons, such as essential shopping, to work if you cannot work from home, to exercise locally or to seek medical help.
Primary and secondary schools have now moved to remote learning until February half term and have closed except for vulnerable children and children of critical workers.
Shops selling non-essential goods have been told to close, apart from those providing click and collect services.
Anyone who is clinically extremely vulnerable has been advised to begin shielding again and will receive a letter explaining what they need to do.
Ruth Harrell, Director of Public Health for Plymouth, said: “These new measures are necessary as there is an urgent need to get the spread of the virus under control. The new variant spreads even more easily and this has resulted in a rapid increase in cases in the South East.”
 The number of COVID-19 cases in Plymouth is still rising, although the city still remains below the regional and national averages.
There have been 599 new cases here over the last seven days and the rate per 100,000 population is 228.5, compared to the England average of 636.3 per 100,000.
So far there have been a total of 6,102 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Plymouth and sadly there have been 131 deaths.
For more details visit the Position in Plymouth page on our website. We publish the daily rates on our Twitter and Facebook pages.
The vast majority of our services are available as normal.
There are no changes to our rubbish and recycling collections as a result of the lockdown and our recycling centres at Chelson Meadow and Weston Mill remain open – although Weston Mill is currently only open at weekends.
Public toilets remain open, as well as all our parks, nature reserves, play areas and skate parks. Please bear in mind that the lockdown rules say exercise should be limited to once a day and only with the people you live with, your support bubble, childcare bubble (where providing childcare) or with one other person from another household.
Nine of our libraries are providing a Select and Collect service at the door and essential PC use by appointment. Opening hours are from 10am until 4pm on the days each library is open. North Prospect and Estover libraries are closed as they are inside other buildings.
The library service’s popular digital service is available and offers e-books and e-magazines, as well as e-audiobooks and e-newspapers. Online activities like Storytimes and Rhymetimes will continue.
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We are once again stepping up to lend a helping hand to some of Plymouth's most vulnerable residents throughout the third national lockdown.
Our Caring for Plymouth scheme, which ran between March and July and then throughout November 2020, has already remobilised to help provide a vital lifeline for people who are clinically extremely vulnerable to COVID-19.
With the help of partners Livewell Southwest and a large number of voluntary and community sector organisations, specially trained staff are already rallying to proactively contact people to assess their needs.
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Shop local this lockdown and support Plymouth’s fantastic independent retailers.
Shops selling essential goods are open, including stalls in Plymouth Market selling fresh produce, while lots of independent shops and eateries have adapted to offer click and collect or delivery services.
It’s easier than ever to support local businesses while staying safe, as you can find a useful directory showcasing what’s on offer on the Shop 4 Plymouth website. Don’t forget to follow Shop 4 Plymouth on Facebook too for plenty of inspiration!
We are also still offering one hour of free parking at the Guildhall, Plymouth Market and Marks and Spencer (city centre) car parks to help you do your essential shopping or make the most of click and collect services.
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Charities and organisations providing food and essential items for vulnerable people are being invited to bid for grant funding of up to £10,000.
Around £160,000 has been set aside from the £950,000 the Council was awarded as part of the Government’s COVID Winter Grant Scheme (WGS).
It complements the Emergency Food Grant scheme and will be awarded to groups, charities and social enterprises who can provide food and essential items to individuals and families in need, either through buying, storage or distribution.
The deadline for bids is 5pm on Tuesday 26 January.
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Our Trading Standards team have prosecuted an electrical goods company for selling an unsafe commercial tumble dryer that could have caused a fire.
The director of the company was made to pay £15,000, having previously pleaded guilty to six breaches of the General Product Safety Regulations 2005.
An expert concluded that the tumble dryer should have been installed by a qualified electrician and the use of this particular machine plugged directly into a mains socket was electrically unsafe. The expert said this presented a significant fire risk, along with a potential danger to any other user and damage to property.
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There are only seven days left for parents and carers to submit applications for children starting at primary school this year.
If your child is due to start at primary school for the first time in September (or junior school if your child has completed Year 2), you only have until Friday 15 January to apply for a place.
If you apply late, there is a risk all the places at your preferred schools will be filled by applicants who applied on time, so it’s really important you get your applications in by the deadline.
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Thanks so much to residents who have brought their Christmas trees to our recycling centres this year. We’ve already received nearly 1,000!
With COVID-19 still affecting our staffing levels and fewer than one per cent of households using the service last Christmas, we’ve decided not to run our tree collection points this year. This means we can make sure other critical services keep running.
If you haven’t managed to dispose of your tree yet, you can drop it off at Chelson Meadow seven days a week or at Weston Mill on Saturdays and Sundays.
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