Leader thanks residents during pandemic

The leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council is thanking residents for their ongoing co-operation during the pandemic as services they are used to receiving have had to be postponed.

The household waste and recycling centres in the borough have closed and these staff are now working with our household waste collection teams. We have suspended our green waste collection service, to be able to allow our reduced workforce to continue to focus on domestic waste and recycling collections.  Community centres, libraries and play areas, public conveniences and ranger huts or pavilions in our parks have also closed.

The changes are temporary to ensure the Government’s guidance on social distancing is observed and also necessary following a fall in staff numbers and the need to redeploy people to essential front line services.

Councillor Louise Gittins said: “We must prioritise essential services such as social care, waste collection, community services, highways and streetcare, especially at this time when certain sections of our community are more vulnerable than ever.

“This has meant that we have had to redeploy staff into priority services in order to ensure we can continue to support the community by providing the most critical services.

“We appreciate the disruption caused to our residents by the loss of some of these services and I thank you for your continued support and understanding.  I would remind everyone that we can all play our part and help, by staying home and only going out if it is essential to do so.

“I would also like to thank our front line staff and the many volunteers who are going above and beyond during this uncertain time to help the most vulnerable in our communities.”

Staff working on front line services have been observing social distancing and have altered their working practices during the outbreak, in order to ensure they can continue to deliver the critical services we all rely on.