• Bilbrook’s Great British Spring Clean
  • Saturday 29 May 2021 – 10:00am
  • Meet at the Woodman Car Park
  • Bring your own gloves
  • All other equipment provided
  • Children welcome but must be accompanied by an adult

• Boundary Review
  The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) has announced that it is minded to recommend that the council should have 41 councillors in the future.

They are now drawing up a new pattern of wards to accommodate 41 councillors and asking local people and organisations for their help to draw up the new ward boundaries across South Staffordshire District Council.

Further information on the Boundary Review can be found here and the Commission has a dedicated section on its website where people can give their views: https://consultation.lgbce.org.uk/node/27826

There will be a further round of consultation once the Commission has drawn up those proposals.

Please note: ‘The Commission has no power to create new parishes or alter the external boundaries of existing parishes. However, sometimes we may alter the parish wards used for parish (or town council) elections. This happens when we create new district or borough wards, or county divisions, for the authority we are reviewing which divide existing parishes. In that case, the law says we must change parish or town council wards so that they do not cross the new boundaries. When we do this, we may change the number of parish councillors each parish ward will have, but we would not normally change the total number of parish or town councillors. 

• Community Safety
• Last week we reported that there has been a spate of burglaries in South Staffordshire where properties have been left unlocked. Keep your properties locked, even when in the garden! Click here to read the cases in detail and for advice on securing your property.
• Last week we reported in detail about the anti-social behaviour on Highgate Common. This week we would like to remind visitors to stay vigilant when visiting the wildlife area and report any acts of fly tipping or vandalising. Please contact the police on 101 or contact them through Facebook messenger and let the ranger team know any details by emailing: [email protected]

• South Staffs Tree Team

The tree team continue to undertake tree works across South Staffs and have completed several residential jobs last week. They received a lovely compliment from one of their customers:

“I would like to thank you and your team for the excellent service you provided for me. They did a fabulous Job, were very professional, tidy and a lovely team working well together. I would not hesitate to recommend your services to all my friends, as a widow I am always careful who I have at my property to do work for me, but this experience gave me great confidence. From when Andy Aston came round to quote, all up until andy came round to ensure the job was completed after the team had finished, it has been such a pleasant experience. Thank you, South Staffs Council.”

For a free quote on any work on your trees, please do not hesitate to contact Andy Aston on [email protected] 

Regular News

• Next week’s Council Committee/Panel meetings

No Council meetings will be taking place the w/c 31 May.

• Council job vacancies
• Building Better Opportunities Advocate x2 (Fixed Term). Closing 12pm on 28 May 2021.  Application information.
• Relief Swimming Instructor (Cheslyn Hay), closing 5pm on 28 May 2021. Application information.
• PA to Leadership Team, closing 5pm on 4 June 2021. Application information.
• Senior Income Recovery Officer, closing 5pm on 8 June 2021. Application information.
• Digital Apprenticeship, closing midnight on 16 July 2021. Application information.
• Legal Apprenticeship, closing midnight on 16 July 2021. Application information.
• Relief Leisure Assistant (Codsall & Penkridge), closing 5pm on 14 June 2021. Application information.

Leisure News

• Couch to 5K coming soon

Cheslyn Hay Leisure Centre are running a Couch to 5K, starting 16 June. The course runs for 9 weeks and is open to adults and children over 8+.  The sessions will be held on Wednesday evenings 6.45-7.30pm on the fields outside Cheslyn Hay Leisure Centre. The cost of the course is £12.50 per adult and £9 for children. Call the leisure centre to book on 01922 417790.

• Open Trail ‘Learn to Ride’ sessions at Baggeridge Country Park

People of all ages from 5 years+ are welcome to join our Open Trail ‘Learn to Ride’ sessions which are taking place at Baggeridge Country Park during the Whitsun school holiday. The sessions are 1 hour, and Open Trail provide all equipment (bikes and helmets). The cost of the sessions is £30 and are delivered to each participant on a 1-1 basis. The instructors cater for all ages, abilities and for people with any special needs. Book a Learn to Ride session here.

• Increased Gym Access
  Leisure centres are pleased to be able to safely increase gym access for facility users. The leisure centres are reducing shut down periods between the sessions to allow customers more opportunity to work-out. Leisure managers will, however, be monitoring the facility to ensure customers only remain in the facility during their booked (1 hour) time slot. We hope that customers continue to safely follow protocols and procedures so that the easing of this restriction runs smoothly and successfully.
• Swimming Teachers Award Course

Wombourne Leisure Centre are running a STA Award in Teaching Swimming from Monday 31 May – Friday 4 June at a cost of £295.00.  It is the perfect step to begin your exciting career as a swimming teacher and with no previous experience required, you can get started right away. You will be able to gain employment as a swimming teacher, teaching non-swimmers, to improver participants. You will be qualified to deliver up to the Goldfish stage of STA’s progressive international Learn to Swim programme.

Call us now to get booked in on 01902 898202. Spaces are limited

COVID-19

• COVID-19 update

The key messages remain:

• Hands, Face, Space and Fresh Air.
• Routinely test.
• Vaccination and Vigilance.
• Everyone, including those who have been vaccinated, must continue to comply with current restrictions and still get tested regularly.
• Hugging is allowed but the advice is “be cautious!”
• International travel began to safely reopen from 17 May, allowing people to go on foreign holidays to ‘green’ list countries. Strict border control measures will remain in place, including pre-departure tests and a PCR test on or before day two of their arrival back in the UK. Further information on travelling abroad can be found here.
• Further information on how restrictions have been eased from 17 May can be found here.

• Covid-19 testing options

Asymptomatic residents are encouraged to test at least twice a week. If you test positive, please isolate for 10 days. There are three options available, of which are all free:

• Collect test kits from a pharmacy; click here to find the nearest one to you.
• Order test kits online by clicking here. These will be sent to your home address. Please note: If you are self-testing, do not forget to report your result whether positive or negative, here.
• Visit a test site to either collect test kits or to have a test done.

• Semi-permanent Covid-19 testing site
  You can get a rapid Covid-19 test at any of our community testing sites, provided you are asymptomatic, you are not self-isolating, you have not had a positive Covid-19 test in the last 90 days, and you are not part of another regular asymptomatic testing programme. Anyone with symptoms should not attend and instead book a PCR test online here. 

South Staffordshire’s semi-permanent Covid-19 Community Testing site is Wombourne Library, Church Road, Wombourne WV5 9EZ, and the opening times are:

• Next week’s pop-up Covid-19 testing sites:
• Saturday 29 May – Penkridge Recreation Centre (Monckton), ST19 5WP
• Sunday 30 May – Penkridge Recreation Centre (Monckton), ST19 5WP
  – Lower Drayton Farm, Lower Drayton Lane, Penkridge, ST19 5RE
• Updates on pop up testing sites can be found on South Staffordshire Councils Facebook page.

Helpful Resources

Seat Belt Campaign – Make roads safer by belting up every time you are in a vehicle.

• Staffordshire Police are launching this campaign which will run from 24 May to Sunday 14 June, in line with national activity and urges drivers and passengers to buckle up. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the consequences of not wearing a seat belt when in a vehicle if you’re involved in a collision, along with reaffirming the laws regarding seat belts and child car seats.

Police officers from the dedicated Roads Policing Team will be out and about carrying out different enforcement initiatives throughout the campaign period. Drivers and passengers caught not wearing a seatbelt will be prosecuted. Not only is NOT wearing a seat belt deadly, it’s costly too. You can be fined £100 on the spot for driving without wearing your seatbelt. If prosecuted, the maximum fine is £500.

It is important to remember that children must use a child car seat until they’re 12-years-old or 135 centimetres tall and it is the driver’s responsibility to ensure that children under the age of 14 years are restrained correctly in accordance with the law. You can find out more information on child car seats here.

• Staffordshire Libraries

Additional services have been reopened following the easing of restrictions from 17 May and you are able to visit libraries which are all Covid compliant.  But did you know that they host many online groups?  Online groups such as Book Chat, Digital Support, Wellbeing Group, Creative Writing and Creative Spaces. There’s something for everyone!

For opening times and more information about current services; please click here.

• Landywood Children’s Centre
  The purpose of a children’s centre is to ensure young children get the best start in life and that their families are supported to help them achieve this. Information on targeted/specialist services such as family support services and parenting programmes is also available.
• Further information on Landywood Children’s Centre
• Landywood Children’s Centre – timetable of activities

This week they would like to highlight the importance of your child being ‘school ready.’ Getting your child ‘school ready’ is to ensure that they have some key skills which allows them to adapt to school life happily. Resources for encouraging school readiness can be found here.