Eastbourne shops get £24 million retail relief as council announces new measures to cope with coronavirus

Eastbourne council has announced it is providing £24 million of expanded retail relief for shops which have been forced to close due to the coronavirus outbreak.
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It is among the number of new measures which the council has announced today (March 25) in response to the pandemic.

The customer contact centre has closed all face-to-face services, including the reception areas in 1 Grove Road.

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Residents must now use the website www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk and email [email protected] whenever possible to contact the council.

Eastbourne SUS-190205-134027001Eastbourne SUS-190205-134027001
Eastbourne SUS-190205-134027001

Customer advisors will be calling more than 3,600 vulnerable residents to take welfare checks and the council says it is important to keep the telephone lines open to allow this critically important work to take place.

A spokesperson for Eastbourne Borough Council said, “During these unprecedented times we are sharing regular updates about the council services that residents in Eastbourne rely on.

“With the high volume of enquiries at this difficult time there will be some delay in responding, but our officers are working to resolve them all as quickly as they can.”

Service updates include:

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• Officers have completed the work on awarding expanded retail relief to 704 eligible retail, leisure and hospitality businesses in Eastbourne and their zero bills will be posted 1st class on Tuesday night (March 24). The total value of relief awarded is £24,098,895.

• Officers received the government’s business rates grants scheme guidance on Tuesday (March 24) and are working as quickly as possible to publish it, along with an updated retail relief joint policy, on the council website. It is hoped to have the information online by Wednesday morning (March 25).

• The government advice on www.gov.uk for businesses and workers continues to be updated on a daily basis. Alternatively, people can also visit www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk

• Anyone having trouble paying their council tax should contact the council by visiting www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk or email [email protected] .

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• Visitors to the website also have the option of a web chat with a customer adviser. Residents who do not have online access or are vulnerable should call 01323 410000.

• Phones are being installed outside 1 Grove Road today (March 25) that residents can use to contact customer advisers.

• It is business as usual for household waste and recycling collections but there will be no collections of bulky waste at this time e.g. appliances and furniture.

• Waste teams are working incredibly hard at a time when inevitably some members of staff are in isolation. To counter this the council is diverting staff from non-essential day-to-day duties to other frontline roles. For example, some grounds maintenance colleagues will be trained to work in waste and recycling. The council will catch up with the grass cutting and other related work in due course.

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• The council continues to liaise with the government and other partners about increasing support for the vulnerable in local communities. Its senior team is looking at how best to utilise existing council systems and infrastructure to achieve this. It will issue updates on this work as soon as possible.

• Signs are in place confirming playgrounds are closed and all public toilets are closed too.

• Updates and latest news is being posted regularly on Twitter @LewesDC and @EastbourneBC

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