Published Thursday 19 March 2020 at 18:04
The Council continues to work with its partners as well as Public Health England and the government as we tackle the unprecedented challenges caused by coronavirus.
Of course, this is a fast moving situation, so we urge residents and businesses to keep up to date with the latest developments by visiting our website or through local media like Radio Lancashire.
At present, we are not announcing any further closures other than ones already detailed yesterday. Our essential services are being delivered as normally as possible. We are getting a lot of queries around refuse collection and the household waste recycling centre. Just to confirm, these are operating as normal.
The government have made a number of announcements over the last two days in terms of education, business support and in terms of social distancing.
Schools will be closing their doors from Friday home time to every pupil other than children of key workers and vulnerable children. Nurseries and private schools have been asked to do the same. We are still working through the details of what this means on a practical level for our borough’s children but we will keep people updated through more direct channels.
We know this is a very worrying time for local businesses and their employees.
The Chancellor has announced an initial package of support for businesses because of the coronavirus. We are still waiting for details on this in practice but we will continue to support businesses through our normal channels.
We are working closely with volunteers and community groups as we put in place to make sure people who need support through this testing time get it. We are looking at creating a community hub for this and will be announcing further details.
We have also been in discussions with faith leaders about alternative ways to practise faith given the national guidance and advice on social distancing. We know that many have already taken the tough decision to suspend services. For those who haven’t, it is with a heavy heart, that we recommend that they do similar.
Finally, as civic leaders, we want to put on record our thanks to our staff for their efforts in to tackle this issue. We also want to thank our local NHS staff , other public service staff and community volunteers providing vital support and care for our residents.
Councillor Mohammed Khan, Leader of the Council
Denise Park, Chief Executive of the Council
Professor Dominic Harrison, Director of Public Health