18 Mar Harlow Council closes numerous buildings due to growing coronavirus pandemic
Harlow Council has taken a number of actions today as a result of the national coronavirus situation.
To protect the health and wellbeing of residents and staff the following changes are announced by the Chief Executive, Brian Keane, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, Councillor Mark Ingall:
- Civic Centre – from Monday 23 March 2020 until further notice, the Civic Centre will close to the public. This means residents won’t be able to come in to make payments or get face-to-face advice. Residents will still be able to contact the council by phone on 01279 446655 and access services online at www.harlow.gov.uk. This is a difficult decision to make but it will allow us to focus our resources on providing a full call centre to assist our residents in this difficult time. Support and advice will be available to any residents who will have difficulties paying a bill. The council will ensure that those residents who can’t pay a bill are supported. Further information will be issued.
- Harlow Playhouse – now closed to the public until further notice.
- Leah Manning Centre – the centre will close from today (18 March) until further notice. Staff will contact clients regularly to ensure their welfare and other support.
- Harlow Museum – the museum will close to the public from today (18 March) until further notice, however the gardens will continue to be maintained.
- Latton Bush Centre – the centre will operate reduced opening hours and only provide essential support to its tenants.
- HTS – will be providing a reduced service that mainly focusses on essential repairs. They will be contacting affected customers and further information will be published in due course.
- Sam’s Place – this will close until further notice from today (18 March) – this is because some of the children who use the service have serious health issues. During the closure regular contact will be made families.
- Pets’ Corner – this will close until further notice to the public from today (18 March) – however staff will continue to care for animals.
- They are working closely with Veolia and bin collections are currently not disrupted.
- Other council services will be operating a reduced service and where possible council staff are being supported to work from home.
- Events – we have taken the decision to postpone a number of events that the council is involved in. These include the Great British Spring Clean, which has been postponed until September by Keep Britain Tidy, and the next Makers Market event on 28 March.
