Arnesby Parish Council

Last night, as more stringent rules were introduced nationwide, partners across Leicestershire were assessing the additional impact on critical services. At a meeting of the Local Resilience Forum today, it was agreed that a major incident would be declared across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. This is in line with other areas.

Internally, I wanted to share the latest position on our services.

There have been a number of staff briefings and intranet updates. I urge you to read those briefings as they are issued, or to catch up on the special intranet page.

The following decisions have been taken today:

• Recycling and household waste sites are now closed until further notice
• Children and family wellbeing centres are closed until further notice. The three main centres in Coalville, Hinckley and Loughborough remain open for staff to access, where they cannot work from home
• All locality offices for adult social care will close to the public from tomorrow morning
• Weddings which are booked at the council's registration offices across the county have also been cancelled and will be re-arranged. People will still be able to register deaths and further instruction is being sought from the General Registry.

On Sunday, all country parks across the county were closed until further notice. Yesterday, the decision was taken to close County Hall to the public from tomorrow.

For information on closures announced previously, visit the website.

As well as managing the impact on services above, the efforts continue to focus on delivering critical services. In summary:

• Children and Family Services are focusing on supporting vulnerable children and school places for key workers and vulnerable children
• Adults and Communities are focusing on the 'shielding' of vulnerable people in Leicestershire, the development of community hubs and continued social care
• Environment and Transport continue to provide school transport and are moving to provision of critical services only

The Leader of the Council, Nick Rushton has issued a further statement to the media highlighting the severity of the situation and emphasising that as a council we are doing all that we can to respond. He has also publicly thanked all staff, wherever you are and whatever you are doing – front line or back office – on behalf of all members of the council during a 'part virtual' Cabinet meeting this afternoon.

I hope that you are doing all that you can to stay well during this time.

John Sinnott, Chief Executive » Less