Northumberland park closures, virtual services and what to do if you had a wedding booked

Country parks, tourist car parks and public toilets are now closed, as part of further coronavirus restrictions announced by Northumberland County Council.
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In an update today (Wednesday, March 25), the local authority has said that its main country parks at Bolam Lake, Plessey Woods and Druridge Bay, along with their car parks, will be closed to the public until further notice.

Car parks at key tourism destinations along the Northumberland coast will also be closed – Spittal; Bamburgh; Holy Island; Seahouses; Craster; Beadnell; Newton Steads; Low Newton; Warkworth Beach; Amble Braid; Cresswell Dunes; Blyth Mermaid, Beachway and Ranch car parks; Fountain Head and Old Hartley car parks, Seaton Sluice.

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Urban country parks, parks and green spaces will remain open to enable residents to exercise, but playgrounds will be closed, and everyone should strictly follow Government guidance on social distancing and gatherings. This will be kept under review and may be subject to further change, if required.

Northumberland  County Council
County Hall at MorpethNorthumberland  County Council
County Hall at Morpeth
Northumberland County Council County Hall at Morpeth

All public toilets in the county will also be closed until further notice.

Also today, the council confirmed that all ceremonies and notice of marriage appointments will not be taking place over the next three weeks.

Couples who have ceremonies taking place within this period will be contacted by the wedding coordination team with further information regarding their options. Anyone with any queries is asked to contact [email protected]

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On Tuesday, March 24, the authority said that it is continuing to provide waste collection services to Northumberland residents, including kerbside and bulky waste collections, but all 12 Northumberland Household Waste Recovery Centres were closed as of 8am until further notice.

Earlier in the week, Coun Georgina Hill contacted the council to call for more hygiene and protection equipment to be urgently made available to refuge workers.

“There is concern that the collectors do not have enough hygiene and protection equipment,” she said. “This is especially important as – they are sitting in close quarters in lorries together, handling rubbish and travelling around the vicinity of numerous houses. In other words, they are essential workers at risk who need to be protected.”

As previously reported, all libraries and other council buildings closed to the public at noon on Monday March 23, while Active Northumberland has shut the county’s sports and leisure centres.

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However, a bank of fitness class videos are available on http://www.activenorthumberland.org.uk/Active-at-Home.aspx and instructors are planning to continue to deliver daily classes live on the Active Northumberland Facebook page.

Likewise, the digital library service, accessible to anyone with a library card number and pin is available at http://mylibrary.co.uk

Schools remain open where necessary for the children of key workers, with director of education Dean Jackson tweeting on Tuesday (March 24) night that there were ‘1600+ children in 184 @N_landCouncil settings today. Great effort by all of them – supporting vulnerable children & key workers and helping to save lives. Enormous thanks again.’

The council has cancelled all of its scheduled meetings until at least Wednesday, April 22.