Across the district; we are all doing our bit to rise to the challenges faced by the coronavirus pandemic - and really good progress is being made.

Our primary focus as a Council is moving from the coronavirus response phase to the recovery phase as we look to support communities and businesses going forward and get them back on track.

With the help of volunteers, as mentioned above, and redeployed council staff, our community hub continues to support those who are self-isolating or who need assistance in some way.

So far approximately 900 residents and families have been helped by our hub, and across the county, thousands more people are being given vital support thanks to community hubs. We are also working with the NHS to help bring mobile testing units to the district so people with coronavirus symptoms, via an online booking system, can get tested and return to work if they test negative. 

Recently, due to the Government's lifting of restrictions, the Council has reopened the tennis courts at Welland Park in Market Harborough, with social distancing measures and signage in place  All Council-owned play areas and skate parks remain closed, with signage, for the safety of the public.

With a lot more people out walking; the Council has been encouraging residents to report dog fouling hotspots to us. As a result we have seen a small increase in reports and our environmental crime team has responded by targeting patrols accordingly.  We have stopped over 400 people with dogs since 20 April 2020 to check if they have a means to pick up dog fouling; all stopped had dog bags with them. We have also actively patrolled areas of concern and not witnessed anyone not picking up dog fouling, which was good to see. Dog fouling will not be tolerated in the district and anyone who is caught, or is found not to be carrying bags to pick up after their dogs, can be fined £100 or up to £1,000 if the case goes to court.
If anyone has a location they would like patrolling please report this to envirocrime@harborough.gov.uk

The County Council also reopened Market Harborough recycling and household waste site for the disposal of waste, via appointment only, which is unsafe to be stored at home. 


Contact your local councillor

Remember you can contact your local ward councillor if you need to ask them anything. But please do not contact councillors if you require support from the coronavirus community hub (those details are above).

Councillors can assist and support with a number of issues.

Councillor's wards and contact details are available on the Council website here 

Harborough District Council has now shared out all of its allocated Government funding to local businesses – a total of over £19.5m – but is continuing to provide further grants which are needed from its own funds.
 
The Government recently published an updated list of all local authority distributions and Harborough District Council was ranked 4^th best performing local authority in England, out of 314 Councils, in terms of getting grants to businesses.

A Lutterworth business said: "I'm glad to say that the speed in which the Council managed to forward us our grant in the middle of all this chaos was amazingly fast and truly appreciated. Coming at a time when many businesses are very concerned about how they are going to deal with this unprecedented situation. Their communications with our company was exceptional; we had our payment within five days of filling out the application. A huge thank you to HDC for the great effort they have put into this mammoth task."

The Government's Discretionary Business Grants Scheme which aims to help businesses which may not have been eligible for previous financial support is now launched - view more details here.

This week, businesses are being asked how the Council can provide further support as part its continued drive to boost the local economy during the coronavirus pandemic.

We are hosting two invite-only virtual business meetings to ask how we can provide further support to boost the local economy during the coronavirus pandemic.

We will be talking to a number of small, medium, and large businesses which have been invited from different sectors including retail, rural, food and drink and tourism.

The meetings will pose questions to businesses such as; 'What innovations or diversification has your business considered' and 'What is the one non-financial intervention the Council could do to assist or enable your business into recovery'.

A poster for shop owners has also been created by the Council to give shops practical advice on social distancing and keeping customers safe in readiness for the town centre 'reopening' later this month.

Harborough District Council, in partnership with FCC Environment has restored the garden at St Luke's Hospital in Market Harborough to its former glory.