Bassetlaw Council leader urges everyone to help each other by sticking to lockdown rules

This latest lockdown has again affected everyone, whether you are a business that has been forced to close your doors once more, a parent who is having to juggle your work life with home schooling, or maybe you have been furloughed and are facing weeks of uncertainty.

Whatever your situation, all we can do for the moment is follow the guidance to keep ourselves and each other safe, and know that help is out there if you need it.

For businesses, a support package has once again been announced by the Chancellor that will make grants of between £4,000 and £9,000 available to eligible businesses, in addition to some discretionary grants.

Frustratingly, the council has not yet been provided with the full guidance or funding for these crucial grants.

We appreciate this is a very worrying time for businesses but want to reassure you that as soon as we receive this funding from the Government, we will be working hard to get payments out to eligible businesses as quickly as possible.

However, I do have some good news to share in the form of plans to pilot asymptomatic testing for communities in Worksop that have a high proportion of working-age residents that are unable to work from home.

The pilot is expected to begin in early February and will last for three months. It will involve people being tested once a week to help to prevent the transmission of coronavirus.

While testing is a valuable tool in the fight against the virus, we must also remember the basics of hands, face, space until vaccines are able to be given to the majority of people.

Thankfully a vaccine programme is now being rolled out in Bassetlaw and if you are contacted by your GP or the NHS to receive a vaccination, please attend your appointment.

The NHS is also asking residents not to contact them to seek a vaccine, the NHS will contact you. Finally, the latest consultation stage of the draft Bassetlaw local plan is due to close on January 20.

If you have not yet had your say, then you can do so here.

Simon Greaves is the leader of Bassetlaw District Council.