Moving – things you need to know!
To keep everyone in the loop, here are a number of updates as to what else will be happening.
Lift access: Until refurbishment of the second floor is complete, the lift will remain out of action for staff. If this causes you a problem please speak to your manager.
Accessing the first floor: Removal staff will be working in the area as will Strata so it is important that we don’t all flood the first floor and get in their way, slowing down the final works. If your move is a week or two off, please delay having a peep upstairs, to allow furniture and I.T equipment to be set up
Contractors: From Monday to Friday next week, an engineer will be working on the first floor checking the heating and ventilation system for leaks within the ceiling. The system takes a couple of weeks to settle down, so checks like this are part of the process and there will also be contractors carrying out routine snagging.
And finally…. If anyone needs boxes to move items upstairs, there are plastic boxes in the Porters' Lodge for staff to start packing files etc. We need filing cabinets to be empty for the move.
The team would like to thank everyone for their cooperation and are looking forward to a smooth move upstairs.
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Holiday reminder – use it or lose it
A reminder that you can only carry a maximum of five days leave into the next financial year unless there are exceptional circumstances such as being on long term sickness or on maternity. If you have more than five days leave remaining, please agree with your manager when you can take it this month.
Tuesday deadline to join the Great British Spring Clean
There’s less than three weeks to the litter pick being organised by our recycling and ranger teams on 21 March in support of Keep Britain Tidy’s annual campaign the ‘Great British Spring Clean’.
The team need to know by Tuesday whether you are taking part. If you would like to join the teams, please add your name and contact details to the sign up sheet by Tuesday 7 March.
The staff litter pick will start at 1.30pm, meeting in the main hall of Old Forde House and will focus on areas along the Aller Brook nature reserve (alongside Forde House), Penn Inn and some areas of Brunel Industrial Estate. All equipment will be provided along with refreshments. Please ensure warm and waterproof clothing is worn along with sturdy shoes.
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Where in Teignbridge?
It's the start of the month, so we've got a new teaser to test your local knowledge.
If you think you know Where in Teignbridge this photo was taken, get your answers to the Communications Team and you could be in with the chance to win a month's free Jam Packed leisure membership at one of our centres. This amazing value membership includes gym, exercise classes, public swimming, sauna and steam room, indoor racket sports or swimming lesson and entry to Shaldon golf course.
And if all that sounds too tempting to risk losing out on, don't forget all staff qualify for almost 50% off with our discount scheme. Find out more on our intranet page.
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Last month's 'Where in Teignbridge' winner is.....
Holly Warran, one of our Environmental Health Officers, is the winner of this month's 'Where in Teignbridge' competition.
Holly correctly guessed the wonderful back beach at Teignmouth, and will now get to enjoy a month's free Jam Packed membership to all of our leisure centres.
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 International Women’s Day (Wednesday 8 March) is a day to celebrate women from all walks of life, to challenge discrimination and to strive for equity in the workplace.
At Teignbridge, we have talented and inspiring women at all levels of the organisation – at SLT level; representing the corporate management team and across all service areas from waste and recycling to HR, planning and leisure.
We may still have some way to go before we have a level playing field for women, but we’ve gone some way in the past decade or so to recognise the additional challenges women face in the workplace, from juggling work and childcare to dealing with some of the hormone issues that affect women such as menstrual and menopause symptoms. Flexible working means women can achieve a better work/life balance; and we’ve introduced menopause cafes and wellbeing support tools on our intranet.
And we’re recruiting women into traditionally male-dominated roles. Dawn Kiff joined Teignbridge in September 2021 as a Refuse and Recycling operative after meeting her now fiancé, who was working in Newton Abbot town centre as a street cleansing operative for the council. At the time she was looking for work and he told her the council were looking for employees on the Recycling & refuse side through the agencies. “A week later I saw another young woman working on the kerbside lorries loading boxes into the lorry and I was inspired,” said Dawn.
“After some consideration of whether I could do the job at the age of 56, I decided to sign up with an agency. I started working initially on the RV lorries collecting black bin waste and compost waste. After the first week, even though it was physically demanding, I realised I had the stamina and fitness level for the role, and I knew that this job was for me. I loved working outdoors, seeing the wonderful landscapes and wildlife, meeting the public and their lovely dogs. I also enjoyed working as part of a small team.” Dawn continued working through the agency, experiencing different roles and last February successfully applied for a permanent full time position.
“I now have my own round, which I have been working on for a year, working as part of a crew of three, collecting recycling waste on the kerbside lorries in Dawlish, Exminster, Liverton & Bovey.
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“Currently there is a small group of women working alongside me either on the recycling & refuse side as driver/loaders, loaders or on the cleansing side, on the sweepers & cleansing waste collection teams.
“We not only work together but we have bonded outside of work too. Recently we arranged a night out together so we could catch up on life outside of work. We ended the night by dancing the night away in Bar 7, a club in Newton Abbot town centre and had a fantastic time! My job role is hard, very physical, working in all extremes of weather but what other job can offer you a free gym workout in fresh air and have an office with a view? A job that you feel you are giving a service to the community and opportunities to meet lovely people! “If I hadn't been introduced to the world of working in the recycling and waste industry by my fiancé, I would not have even considered this role as it has been and still is assumed to be stereotypically a man's occupation.
“I really hope that any women out there who may read my story are inspired to break any barriers they may feel if they would like to apply for any job that may seem stereotypically biased to men.”
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To mark International Women’s Day we’ve asked women from across the organisation to create a vlog telling us their thoughts on what it’s like to be a woman in 2023, and what it’s like to be a woman working for Teignbridge. Amanda Pujol and Ros Eastman give us their honest and thought-provoking insights.
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We’d also like you to give a shout out to women across the organisation who inspire you or who simply deserve a mention.
Please let us have your nominations / shout outs to communications@teignbridge.gov.uk and we’ll include them on our intranet page and highlight them in next week’s newsletter.
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Talking tec
M365 Weekly Tip
If you have noticed your time zone is currently set to US you can amend it to UK, both in Office and Teams.
- Open Office.com
- Open Settings (cog icon) from the top right-hand corner of the toolbar.
- Under ‘Language and Time zone’
- Select ‘change your language ->’
- Display language should be English (United Kingdom)
- Region should be:
- Regional format – English (United Kingdom); 31/08/2000; 01:01 – 23:59
- Time Zone (UTC+00:00) Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London
Teams:
- Select the three-dot menu on the top purple toolbar.
- Settings
- General
- Scroll down to ‘Language’
- Select: English (United Kingdom)
- Keyboard language stays as English (United States)
We hope you're finding the weekly tips useful – if you've missed any you can find all our tips in the M365 Folder on Corporate SharePoint as well as some ‘Best Practice and Guidance Documents’.
Further investment at Ashburton Road play area
Just under £50,000 will be invested in improving the multi-use games area next to the Ashburton Road refurbished play park (see below).
Work is expected to get underway later this month and last up to three weeks to install a high quality synthetic sports surface that enables all year round play, reduces maintenance and improves safety. The area has suffered in recent years due to poor drainage and playing surface.
The re-surfacing will include built-in markings enabling basketball and football to be played as well as a range of other sports.
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Opening of Ashburton Road Playpark
Children will be able to enjoy the £150,000 revamp of the Figure of 8 Ashburton Road Play Park in Newton Abbot when it reopens at 1pm today (3 March).
The refurbished play area now has three distinct zones – a toddlers starter bike track for 0 to 5 year olds, a toddler zone for 1 to 5 year olds, and a junior zone for 6 to12 year olds.
A new pump park for wheel sport activities for older children has been installed and improvements have also been made to the ball area.
The refurbishment has been made possible by funding from developers under Section 106 agreements that require developers to provide community facilities. The work was carried out by Forte Trailscapes Ltd, Outdoor Play UK, Priestwood Vision and our grounds maintenance contractors Idverde.
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Don’t miss out on commenting on our draft local plan
With just under two weeks left before consultation on the draft Local Plan closes on 13 March, residents are urged to take this final chance to give us their views on the proposals which will shape the development of Teignbridge till 2040.
The Plan identifies land for homes and jobs for local people, protects valued environments and creates more public open spaces. It tackles climate change and promotes low carbon energy to help secure future needs. It also sets out the infrastructure needed to support developments - such as roads, schools and healthcare.
Please encourage your friends and family to comment on the Local Plan using the online feedback form. A short video on our website explains how to complete the form and anyone having problems using it should contact the local plan team on 01626 215754 or email.
Copies of the Draft Local Plan and related documents, including a short ‘Need to Know’ guide, are on our website. Paper copies are also available to view in libraries, town and parish council offices and at Forde House.
The Plan and all comments received from residents, businesses and other organisations will then be passed to the planning inspectorate for review and public examination. Anyone who submits a written objection can request to appear before the inspector at the Local Plan examination hearing.
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Call on Government to take action
In her capacity as Executive Member for Climate Change, Flood and Coastal Risk Management, Cllr Jackie Hook has written to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
- Expressing disappointment that OFWAT has needed to open an enforcement case as part of its investigation into how all wastewater management companies manage their sewerage infrastructure and the number and volumes of discharges into our coastal environments.
- Urging the Government to take action to combat threats to the quality of our water by taking a range of measures
- Calling on the Government to put the ocean into net recovery by 2030, given the deteriorating conditions of our oceans and the impact his has on our climate, local fishing and tourism industries and the health, wellbeing and prosperity of our coastal communities.
A copy of her letter is here.
Capturing the views of landlords
Landlords with properties in Teignbridge are encouraged to take part in our survey which is designed to help us better understand the private rental market in Teignbridge, gauge landlords' views and find out about the issues which concern them most.
Please share the QR code or the survey link
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 Council vacancies – Accounting Technician, Coastal and Drainage Manager, Coastal Process Scientists (one temporary and one permanent), Estates Surveyor, Senior Estates and Development Surveyor, Solicitor - Commercial Property Solicitor (or equivalent)
Leisure vacancies – Leisure Assistant Dawlish, Outdoor Pool Supervisor, Outdoor Pool Leisure Assistant; Casual leisure roles - Sports Coach Level 1, Class Instructor
Waste & Recycling - HGV Vehicle Mechanic
Full details of all vacancies and closing dates for applying are on our jobs portal.
Residents value and trust district councils
The District Council Network has unveiled exclusive new market research about how residents in two-tier areas view their councils.
A new report “Districts Deliver: How local people view their councils” offers compelling evidence that residents across England value and trust their district council. The key findings of the research, by the research and insight company BritainThinks are:
- District councils have strong name recognition and awareness among residents. In two-tier areas many can only name their district council
- There is a widely held view that the services delivered by district councils are important for their local area
- District councils enjoy high levels of satisfaction across a range of measures, more so than county councils
- Residents feel that their district council understands and cares about their local area. They have a high level of trust in their district council’s ability to tackle local issues
Local government is more trusted than national government to tackle local issues.
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The DCN has also launched an Innovation Spotlight to showcase 70 examples of councils delivering innovation to improve outcomes for their communities focused on three themes
- Enhancing the local environment
- Improving the health and wellbeing of our residents
Instilling pride in place and creating prosperity.
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If you still smoke, why not join the annual mass quit and protect your brain?
 Wednesday 8 March is No Smoking Day and smokers are being urged to give quitting a go as research shows those who smoke are more likely to develop dementia.
The annual awareness day encourages smokers to make a quit attempt and this year’s theme is 'stopping smoking protects your brain health'.
ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) has worked with Alzheimer’s Research UK whose research demonstrates low awareness amongst smokers of the increased risk of dementia caused by smoking.
Smokers are encouraged to ‘never give up giving up’ and can visit the NHS Better Health webpages to get free access to the latest quitting aids, apps, information, one-to-one advice and local support.
Smoking raises the risk of developing dementia as it harms the vascular system (heart and blood vessels) and the brain. Studies published in the Lancet also suggest that quitting smoking reduces this risk substantially, and smoking has been identified as one of twelve risk factors that if eliminated entirely, could collectively prevent or delay up to 40% of dementia cases.
Act F.A.S.T.
Call 999 if you see any single one of the signs of a stroke.
The Act F.A.S.T. (Face, Arms, Speech, Time) acronym provides a memorable way of identifying the most common signs of a stroke and emphasises the importance of acting quickly by calling 999.
Think and Act F.A.S.T. if you see any single one of these signs of a stroke:
- Face – has their face fallen on one side? Can they smile?
- Arms – can they raise both arms and keep them there?
- Speech – is their speech slurred?
- Time – even if you’re not sure, call 999.
When Stroke Strikes Act F.A.S.T. Call 999
A stroke is known as a ‘brain attack’. It is a medical emergency that requires immediate attention as every minute is vital. That is why calling 999 is so crucial.
Early recognition of symptoms can give stroke patients those extra precious minutes, enabling faster access to specialist treatment and increasing the chances of a recovery which could reduce the long-term effects, such as a disability.
More information about strokes, their cause and treatment is on the NHS website.
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Lots of activities at Alice Cross
The latest newsletter from Alice Cross Centre in Teignmouth has been published
The centre has received a grant to enable it to refurbish its kitchen. To enable the work to be carried out, Alice Cross has had to stop providing meals but if all goes to plan the work will be completed and meals will resume on 27 March.
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Low Carbon Devon Next Steps - The Art of the Possible
As the ERDF-funded Low Carbon Devon project draws to a close, join an interactive event at Plymouth University exploring what’s next and highlighting opportunities for climate-positive business support.
- Hear from partners of the project with opportunities to share.
- Learn about a new support network being created by like-minded enterprises
- Build relationships to take positive action on climate change.
- Take part in activities to explore the art of the possible
Join others from enterprises across sectors. Open to all.
More information and register your free place.
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