Upchurch's Co-op Raising Funds for My Shining Star - Help Them Decorate Their Front Window Display

Superheroes

Manager David and his colleagues at Upchurch's Co-op will dress as superheroes to say thank you to our NHS, emergency services and all key workers for the great work they are doing, and to help brilliant local charity My Shining Star raise much needed funds during the Coronavirus pandemic with a collection in-store.

Look out for your favourite superhero tomorrow, Thursday 23rd and next Thursday 30th April.

Please send in your thank you pictures

David would like to decorate his front window display next week, covering it with all the children's lovely "thank you pictures".

If you would like your picture put on display, please ask an adult to drop it off to a member of staff for you during their essential shopping trip.

Thank you

Upchurch Spider-Man is more than welcome to visit too while he is allowed out for his daily run - his one exercise session each day. 

My Shining Star Children's Cancer Charity

Supporting families through the financial trauma of childhood cancer.

For the benefit, the relief and assistance of the public, specifically families in need of support when their children are diagnosed with cancer, in any part of the UK, who require financial aid and advice, by providing them with medical expenses/advice, housing support, travel expenses, fundraising advice/support and guidance with any other issues that arise as a direct result of their child’s diagnoses.

The long term goal of the charity will be to fund medical treatment currently unavailable in the UK, extending options for life expectancy, and funding future medical research to increase survival rates.

Read more about their brilliant work at >> www.myshiningstar.co.uk

Upchurch Matters

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UPDATE from SGN - Gas Network Upgrade in A2/High Street, Newington - Wednesday 22nd April

We are continuing to replace our old gas mains with new plastic pipe along the A2, Newington to ensure a safe and reliable gas supply.

I’m pleased to share we have completed our phase of work in the High Street earlier than planned. To minimise future disruptions for the local community we collaborated with Kent County Council allowing them to carry out resurfacing works within our temporary road closure. They’ve now completed their project and we will be able to safely reopen the High Street to local traffic and smaller vehicles by tomorrow afternoon.

Our engineers continue to upgrade our network in Keycol Hill at Key Street roundabout. For everyone’s safety the A2/Keycol Hill westbound lane remains reduced and restricted to access only for smaller vehicles and deliveries. All other motorists will need to follow the signed diversion route in place.

The official diversion route for HGV’s remains in place via A2, A249 > M2 > Hoath Way > A2. We would encourage all commuters to please, plan ahead and allow extra time for your journey.

We continue to plan further phases of our work in consultation with Kent County Council. We’ll provide details of our plans once confirmed. Updates about our project can be found on our dedicated page at sgn.co.uk

We would like to thank residents, businesses and road users for their continued patience and understanding while we carry out this essential work.

If you have any further questions, please let me know.

Kind regards

Paige Roberts

Stakeholder and Community Manager

SGN Gas

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Temporary Road Closures - Boxted Lane, Newington | Wardwell Lane, Lower Halstow

Because of works on overhead power lines, Kent County Council has made an order to prohibit through traffic on 2 roads in Swale, as per the below:

20/07/20 to 16/08/20 - Boxted Lane, Newington - between Breach Lane and Church View Cottages.

The alternative route is via Breach Lane, The Street, Sheerness Road, Basser Hill, Iwade Road and vice versa.

20/07/20 to 16/08/20 - Wardwell Lane, Lower Halstow - between School Lane and Newington Enterprise Centre.

The alternative route is via Breach Lane, The Street, Sheerness Road, Basser Hill, Iwade Road and vice versa.

For information regarding these closures please contact Kent County Council on: 03000 418181, who will be able to assist with the scope of the works.

For details of roadworks, see: https://one.network

Kent County Council - Highways, Transportation & Waste

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Swale Borough Council Seeks Approval for Climate and Ecological Emergency Action Plan on Earth Day

Cabinet is being asked to approve Swale Borough Council’s action plan to tackle the climate and ecological emergency around the borough.

The action plan outlines the steps the council will take towards making their operation carbon neutral by 2025, followed by the borough in 2030, in areas including transport, air quality, buildings, ecology and biodiversity, resource consumption and waste.

The decision whether to approve the action plan will be made at the council’s cabinet meeting later this month on Earth Day (22nd Apr).

Earth Day is an international day of action held each year to encourage people to come together and drive transformative change for the people and the planet.

Cllr Tim Valentine, cabinet member for the environment at the council, said:

“We declared a climate emergency last year and committed to draw up an action plan that would take us towards our goal of making our own operations carbon neutral by 2025, and the borough by 2030.

The action plan outlines how we will provide leadership, engage with businesses, organisations and residents, and improve the energy efficiency of our transport system, housing and council properties.

It also outlines how we will work to safeguard our wild places, ancient woodlands and hedgerows.

Since we took office last year, we have planted 2,500 trees, had our air quality action plan approved by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and plan to replace our current fleet with new electric vehicles later this year.

If approved, the climate and ecological emergency action plan will give us a clear path forward to lobby for powers, resources and funding from the government to help us reach our targets.

We are committed to reaching our targets but cannot do it alone, and will look to work closely with our partners, Kent County Council, businesses, schools and local community groups to help us deliver the actions in the plan.”

People can see the draft report here

Swale Borough Council

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Southern Water - Extra support for Customers During Covid-19

Extra support for customers during Covid-19

We’ve expanded the support available for customers during the current pandemic. These measures are in addition to the support we already offer. Information about all the support we offer can be found here

We’re continually reviewing the support we offer and urge any customer struggling to pay to get in touch, let us know and find out how we can support them.

Additional support we’re offering 

We know the current crisis will have a financial impact on many of our customers so we’ve increased the support we offer to people in vulnerable circumstances.

◼︎ Three-month payment breaks for any customer impacted by the virus

◼︎ Automatic renewal of support tariffs so customers don’t need to worry about reapplying

◼︎ Accepting referrals to our priority services register from trusted third-parties, such as councils, emergency services and Citizens Advice, and family members

Registering for support

Given the unusually large volumes of calls we are experiencing, the best way to contact us is:

◼︎ Via email to payless@southernwater.co.uk

◼︎ Through our website at southernwater.co.uk/account/help-paying-your-bill or southernwater.co.uk/account/extra-help-and-support

Existing financial assistance programmes

◼︎ Essentials provides a discount for customers on low incomes or pension credit

◼︎ WaterSure caps bills when a customer on means-tested benefits has a water meter and meets certain criteria, such as having certain medical conditions or 3 children under 19

◼︎ Water Direct allows Jobcentre Plus to pay Southern Water directly from a customer’s benefits

◼︎ NewStart helps reduce debt for customers who owe money or haven’t made a payment for a while

Customers may be eligible for multiple financial support schemes, depending on their circumstances. More information about all of these, including the criteria for them, is on our website at southernwater.co.uk/account/help-paying-your-bill

We’re providing regular updates through our Twitter and Facebook pages, so please check those regularly for the latest updates.

Sarah Feasey

Stakeholder Engagement Manager Southern Water Space

Medway Libraries

The latest publications are just a click away...

Medway Libraries are closed but you can still get access to a wide range of resources and downloadable apps.

Medway library members have free 24/7 access to 1000's of new and classic titles as eAudio books, eBooks, along with the latest magazines, newspapers and comics, in addition to Oxford Reference Online, Dictionary of National Biography, OED and all 3 Britannicas Online and much more.

You will always have access to all the latest book releases, treasured classics, newspapers, magazines, comics and more from your local Medway Library.

And if you or someone you know aren't already members you can sign up online today, it's a quick and simple process giving you access to all their online materials.

Don’t worry about your library account or any materials you currently have on loan.

Medway Libraries have made the following change to their service to help during the current Coronavirus situation, these changes will be in place until further notice:

• All loans and renewals will be increased to 8 weeks

• You can renew loans up to 15 times

• All cards due to expire will automatically be renewed for another year

• Any overdue charges and fines will be waived
• The online reservation service for physical books has been suspended, however, it is still possible to reserve items from the e-Library

• Unfortunately the system for borrowing books from partner libraries has had to be suspended

Upchurch Matters

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