COVID-19
Leader Statement: Tier 4 – Please Stay At Home
Cllr Joss Bigmore, Leader of Guildford Borough Council has said:
‘Coronavirus (Covid 19) infection rates have rapidly increased across most of Surrey and following yesterday’s (Saturday 19 December) announcement from the Prime Minister we have moved into stricter Tier 4 restrictions.
‘This means we must stay at home where we can and not mix with others from different households except in special circumstances such as support bubbles.
‘You can find information on the new Tier 4 restrictions on the government website. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tier-4-stay-at-home
‘We understand how distressing this news is for people across our borough. Seeing family and friends at Christmas was providing light and hope to many at the end of this unprecedented year, but because the rate of infection is increasing, those plans will have to change.
‘We must now follow the new restrictions, which are similar to those we followed during the national lockdown restrictions in November and include:
*no household mixing inside (apart from within a support bubble)
*only meeting with a maximum of one other person from another household outdoors
*and all non-essential shops, personal care, indoor gyms and hospitality venues must close.
‘The planned Christmas Bubbles do not apply in Tier 4 unless you are in an existing support bubble, which includes families who parents do not live together, please see the government guidance for full details on Christmas Bubbles here.
‘I want to thank you all for your continuing to play your part and encourage you to take personal responsibility over the festive period to limit the spread of the virus and protect our loved ones and NHS. One in three people with Coronavirus (Covid 19) have no symptoms and will be spreading it without realising.
‘The safest way to spend Christmas is with your household or your existing support bubble in your own home. The more people you see the more likely you will catch or spread the Coronavirus.
‘The new Tier 4 restrictions will be hard for many of our local businesses and we will continue to support you.
‘The virus mutation seems to be far easier to pass to one another so we must reduce social interactions further to keep it under control and avoid overwhelming our hospitals. We know this is difficult but urge you to please be vigilant and continue to look after each other by following the rules.
‘Remember that many people are being vaccinated every day, there is hope and although today maybe dark and comes as a blow to our festive spirit, as Winston Churchill said: “it’s always darkest before the dawn” – if we follow the guidance now we can get through this together.
‘We are supporting local families who need help with food over the Christmas Holidays, working with Foodwise and Mandira’s Kitchen to store and deliver their generous donations of meals from 18 December to 4 January. If you are worried about how you will feed your children during the Christmas holidays, please get in touch by calling 01483 444150 or emailing Community.Wellbeing@guildford.gov.uk.
‘Please remember if you have a medical emergency continue to visit the NHS website 111.nhs.uk or can them on 111.
‘If you need us, please get in touch we are here to support all of our residents and businesses. Visit guidlford.gov.uk or call 01483 44 44 00 on Monday.’
The Tiers are due to be reviewed on 30 December.
COVID-19 Impact: Borough Businesses have your say
Do you own or run a business in Guildford? Local business owners can now let us know how we can help provide further support and advice by completing our quick and simple online survey.
The survey can be found at https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/GuildfordBusinessSurvey and is open until Friday 29 January 2021.
As we move into the next phase of economic recovery, we want to understand how we can continue to best support our fantastic local businesses. Our survey will allow us to see how you have been responding to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak and how we can help your business with further support moving forward. We also want to know if your business is looking at reducing its carbon footprint and if so, how can we work with you to provide support and advice.
Cllr John Redpath, Lead Councillor for the Economy said: “This has been a very challenging year and the Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak has had a substantial financial impact on our local economy in Guildford with many of our local businesses and sectors, including voluntary and charities, being affected. Supporting local businesses is a key part of our recovery plan. Since the beginning of the outbreak we have been working with our local businesses, distributing £22 million of government grants to 1,640 local businesses and over £1.111 million in discretionary grants.
“We are keen to hear your views and how we can better support you. There are also opportunities to work with us as our buying strategy now prioritises our local SME’s where possible, and we continue to work on developing our relationships and networks in our borough. Our procurement strategy also focuses on providing social value and reducing CO2 emissions and we want to know how we can help support your businesses with your efforts to reduce your carbon footprint in our fight against climate change. We have initiatives and can access support for the third sector too, for example our Community Lottery is one way good causes can continue to raise fund even when events have been cancelled, please do get in touch.”
Cllr Redpath explained the work we have achieved with partners this year: “We worked with our Businesses Improvement District, Experience Guildford, to re-open our High Street safely and bring back our vibrant town centre atmosphere. Our Environmental Health team worked with retailers and the hospitality sector to ensure that they had the correct measures in place to keep visitors safe. We also supported national and local initiatives including the government’s Eat Out To Help Out scheme and Big Mouth Guildford’s Bank Holiday Sale Bonanza.”
He explained: “We want to continue to support our local businesses as best we can and are currently offering, support for anyone looking to get back into work. Our free online job club, ’Skills For Employment’, run by local careers experts The Stuart Mitchell Group, covers a range of topics from CV workshops to one-to-one guidance, including advice on how to tap into the ‘hidden job market’. It builds on your own qualities, skills and strengths to help you take the next step in your career, start a business or even become a volunteer. Our partners Surrey Chambers of Commerce are also offering help to young people aged 16-24 claiming Universal Credit to join the government’s new ‘KickStart’ scheme. If you are interested in finding out more about Skills For Employment or KickStart please email business@guildford.gov.uk.”
The survey is here and will be sent directly to businesses currently on our database and shared through other channels and on corporate social media.
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In Send parish itself, remember that you can contact Send Community Aid if you need help: 07401 224 609