Martham Parish Council

12 January 2021

More than 30 people were fined in Norfolk over the weekend for breaching the COVID-19 restrictions. Officers increased patrols this weekend in support of their NHS colleagues to make sure people were adhering to the lockdown rules to help stop the spread of coronavirus. Police issued 31 fixed penalty notices on Saturday and Sunday (9-10 January 2021) while 96 people were given warnings. Fines were predominantly issued in coastal areas of the county to people who were mixing households or those who had travelled some distance to exercise. This included fines given to one couple who travelled from Hertfordshire to visit the seals at Horsey as well as another man who travelled from Colchester to Horsey with his children for the same purpose. Six men were fined in Great Yarmouth after meeting to play a game of football on a recreation ground while a man was fined for having five people in his car, all from different households. T/Assistant Chief Constable Julie Wvendth said: “We did see an increase in enforcement activity this weekend, particularly in our coastal areas. “I would reiterate the points I made last week; we are almost a year into this pandemic and the public are fully aware of what is expected of them and consequently our approach to enforcement must take this into account. “We will always seek voluntary compliance in the first instance through our continued approach of engage, explain and encourage and every case will be assessed on its own merit. However, where this interaction fails and people continue to ignore rules, we will be left with no other option but to use the powers available to us. “The overwhelming majority of people in Norfolk are making great sacrifices to adhere to the regulations so it is only right that those who blatantly ignore them and risk the health of others are dealt with. This includes people who travel into our county for non-essential purposes and in contravention of the guidance to stay at home or stay local.” Dedicated COVID-19 patrols will be taking place across the county every day, targeting town centres, Norwich city centre, coastal areas and beauty spots.

Summary: what you can and cannot do during the national lockdown

As of 4 January 2021 the Government have stated that you must stay at home. The single most important action we can all take is to stay at home to protect the NHS and save lives.

You should follow this guidance immediately. The law will be updated to reflect these new rules and more information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Leaving home

You must not leave, or be outside of your home except where necessary. You may leave the home to:

• shop for basic necessities, for you or a vulnerable person
• go to work, or provide voluntary or charitable services, if you cannot reasonably do so from home
• exercise with your household (or support bubble) or one other person, this should be limited to once per day, and you should not travel outside your local area.
• meet your support bubble or childcare bubble where necessary, but only if you are legally permitted to form one
• seek medical assistance or avoid injury, illness or risk of harm (including domestic abuse)
• attend education or childcare – for those eligible

Colleges, primary and secondary schools will remain open only for vulnerable children and the children of critical workers. All other children will learn remotely until February half term. Early Years settings remain open.

Higher Education provision will remain online until mid February for all except future critical worker courses.

If you do leave home for a permitted reason, you should always stay local in the village, town, or part of the city where you live. You may leave your local area for a legally permitted reason, such as for work.

If you are clinically extremely vulnerable you should only go out for medical appointments, exercise or if it is essential. You should not attend work

The Parish Council will be closing for the Christmas period from Monday 21 December and will re-open again on Monday 4 January.

Budget Consultation for 2021/22

Norfolk County Council is committed to making Norfolk a county where businesses, organisations and communities continue to thrive together, even as we address the impact of COVID-19. We will do this by tackling the challenges that face us and moving forward together to create ever better places to work and live.

The business plan we launched in 2019, Together, for Norfolk, is now well embedded in all that we do in planning to grow our economy, manage development and achieve better futures and outcomes for everyone who lives and works here.

We continue to provide vital services to give children and young people the best start in life, support vulnerable and older people, maintain our highways and transport network, provide library, waste disposal and fire services and work in partnership to grow the economy.

We are currently delivering these services in a financial climate of almost unprecedented risk and uncertainty, both from the perspective of people who use our services, and those who provide them. The Council must now plan for the ‘triple whammy’ impacts of rising budget pressures, uncertainty over Government funding and the financial challenges associated with COVID-19.

Making decisions about how we spend your money is never easy and many of the additional costs, lost income and undeliverable savings in the current year will have a significant impact on our 2021-22 finances. It remains critical to develop balanced, sustainable budget proposals which will enable the Council to continue to deliver the essential services which are relied on by all Norfolk’s people, businesses and visitors (who help boost our economy).

There are statutory services we need to protect and a limited choice of where savings can be made. We have already saved £436m between 2011 and 2020, but even by increasing council tax by the amount we’re allowed to without a local referendum and a proposal to raise the £8.5 million by increasing the Adult Social Care precept, we won’t balance our budget next year. This means we must find an additional £26m of savings in 2021-22 and may possibly need to save more depending on the level of Government support received.

We are putting every effort into listening to our residents to ensure we know what services you value most. By developing our budget proposals in line with residents’ priorities, coupled with our strategy of changing services to make them more efficient, we aim to make most of the savings we need by cutting running costs and with the least possible impact on frontline services.

I wanted to alert you to the webpage where we published our budget consultation on 26^th October. You can find out more at www.norfolk.gov.uk/budget and have your say using our online feedback form. Using our online feedback ensures we have a clear record of your response and that your views are accurately recorded.

We appreciate that some residents may not have online access and people who are unable to respond online can send us send their views in writing to:

Freepost Plus RTCL-XSTT-JZSK Norfolk County Council, Ground floor – south wing, County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich NR1 2DH.

Residents can request our budget consultation document in other formats, including paper form, by calling 0344 800 8020 or emailing haveyoursay@norfolk.gov.uk.  We will make all materials as accessible as possible.

Our consultation closes at midnight on 14^th December 2020. Please note that if we receive any consultation responses after this date we cannot guarantee that we will be able to take them into account.

I hope this update is helpful to you in giving your organisation the time to plan how to make your views known and to schedule any agenda items or special meetings that you may need to put in place.

If you have any questions about the process for consultation, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Christine Mawson, Stakeholder and Consultation Manager, Email: christine.mawson@norfolk.gov.uk or telephone 01603 224485.