Updates to Council Services

We understand it is a very difficult time to be exploring your housing options. We continue to offer a service to assist you as much as we can. You are still able to contact us for advice and support via phone and email.

Rough Sleeping

Our RISE team is providing support to rough sleepers. Anyone who is rough sleeping that is self-isolating either because they have symptoms or because they are in a vulnerable group is being provided with somewhere to stay. The recent Government funding announced specifically to support rough sleepers will help with this.

Looking for accommodation

For those that are looking for alternative accommodation, please be advised that some agents are now limiting viewings during the pandemic.

Letting agents we understand are still operating business as usual:

• Miles & Barr
• MANN Lettings
• Lovetts Ramsgate
• Cooke & Co
• Appleton
• Oakwood Homes 

Letting agents who have suspended viewings until further notice:

• Lovetts Margate
• Prospects UK
• Regency Properties
• Cockett Henderson

This may change on a daily basis, so we recommend you continue to monitor online sites such as: 

• www.rightmove.co.uk
• www.zoopla.co.uk
• www.spareroom.co.uk
• www.homefinderuk.org
• https://www.primelocation.com/to-rent/

Your housing officer will continue to contact you with any properties that may become available.

Maintaining your current tenancy

During this period of uncertainty, please continue to pay your current rent and try hard to save if possible. Should you fall into financial hardship you will need to contact Universal Credit who can explore options with you. 

The Homeless Prevention Tool may be able to assist you with budgeting and assessing what benefits you may be entitled to.   

Please contact your agent or landlord if you have any issues making your monthly rent payments due to any loss of income/work. It is important to be open and honest with them to prevent falling into unmanageable debt once the pandemic has passed.

Debt and financial assistance

If you need any debt assistance, citizens advice services are now running by telephone or online. Please see below contact details:

Telephone: 01843 228642

• http://thanetcitizensadvice.org/
• enquiries@thanetcitizensadvice.co.uk

Debt and financial assistance

The Government has announced emergency legislation to:

• Stop any new possession claims (social and private tenancies) being issued at court for the next three months (at least). 

This means, if your landlord has not already applied for court action, they will not be able to do so for at least 3 months. However it is important that you continue to search for alternative accommodation and pay your rent. This is only a temporary delay and possession of your property will be sought once normal business resumes.

We understand it is an anxious time for everyone. If required, we will automatically extend your prevention duty by 3 months to continue to work with you. In the meantime, please be patient with your housing officers who are doing everything what they can to continue to deliver our service and supply you with information as and when it is available.

Due to coronavirus (COVID-19), whilst we will endeavour to maintain business as usual there may be changes to your usual recycling and waste collections over the coming weeks and months.  

Precautions are being put in place to ensure coronavirus is not spread via your waste and recycling.

Advice for those who are self-isolating

Anyone who is asked to self-isolate, either as a precaution or because they are confirmed to have coronavirus, must follow this advice when disposing of their household waste:

1. Put tissues, cleaning cloths, and disposable wipes in a plastic rubbish bag, which should then be tied when full
2. The plastic bag should be placed in a second bin bag and tied
3. The bag should be put in a suitable and secure place (away from children) and stored for a period of 72 hours (3 full days)
4. After the 72 hour period has elapsed it is safe to treat the bagged tissues wipes etc as general waste even if anyone living at your address thinks they may have COVID-19  

You should NOT put your waste in communal waste areas until waste has been stored for at least 72 hours. After 72 hours outside the body the virus is no longer viable and the double-bagged waste can be put in the general rubbish collection as normal. 

Only waste that is heavily contaminated, such as tissues that have been coughed into and disposable cleaning cloths, need to be treated in this way. Regular household recycling and waste should be treated as normal.

Government advice states there is no need to offer a separate clinical collection for this type of waste at this stage.

If you are self-isolating, you should not visit any Household Waste Recycling Centres.

Changes to collections

We will prioritise the collection of general waste and food waste collections.  

Please continue to place your recycling and garden waste in the usual bins.  Some recycling collections may be impacted due to staff shortages but we are monitoring the situation and will keep you informed.

Our bulky waste service is not accepting any new bookings for now. We will be working to complete any outstanding bookings that have already been made. 

We are working hard to minimise the impact on your recycling and waste collections and appreciate your understanding if services do change.

As a result of the current situation, there has been a disruption to green waste services this week. We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused and will provide further information as soon as we can.

The crematorium office is temporarily closed to visitors.  Staff are still working and can be contacted by telephone or email. Telephone: 01843 577 333 or Email: crematorium@thanet.gov.uk

Important information for all visitors to the crematorium

As the situation regarding the Coronavirus continues to change, we want to assure you that staff at the crematorium will continue to provide a dignified service for all those attending, whilst ensuring the wellbeing and health of both staff and visitors alike. Guidance from both the government and bereavement institutes is being closely followed and implemented.

Therefore we request that:

On arrival at the crematorium, mourners should be asked to stay in their cars or wait outside. A member of staff will be circulating offering hand sanitiser prior to entering the chapel and we ask that the opening and closing of doors is restricted to staff, minimising the number of people touching these.

Please note that our waiting room is now closed.

To comply with guidance issued by the Joint Bereavement Committee, we ask that only immediate family attend services, i.e.

Spouse/Partner
Parents/Carers
Brothers/Sisters
Children (and partners).

This is to ensure we are practicing social distancing. We do ask that funeral directors speak sensitively with their families to ask them to comply with this request. We strongly recommend that you do not attend unless you really have to. Services can be recorded or watched online. We are also working with our supplier to reinstate live streaming.

We are discouraging contact such as hand shaking. At this stage, it remains the family’s choice as to whether the curtains remain open but again the touching and kissing of the coffin on the catafalque is discouraged.

Open coffins and the viewing of charging the coffin has been suspended.

Service and hymn books have been removed from the chapel and any wording required for the service, should be included in service sheets. We request that any service sheets are taken with the mourners following the service.

Reception has been closed to visitors and we ask that contact with office staff is made either by telephone or by email. Funeral directors are asked to post all paperwork in the postbox provided which will be regularly emptied. An email should be sent to the crematorium, confirming paperwork delivered and a response will be sent confirming receipt.

One representative from each funeral director should be appointed to collect cremated remains at the beginning of each day and the witnessing of cremated remains interments and scatterings is temporarily suspended.

Where possible, cremation form 1  should be completed by the applicant. Funeral directors are discouraged from signing this document on behalf of families. This form can be completed electronically.

We do ask that one person should collect ashes. During services, we ask that people do not sit in the chapel attendant’s room to ensure social distancing is practiced.

Guidance is being regularly updated so please check our website and the signage displayed in the crematorium for further information.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. From everyone in the team, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for working with us during these difficult times.

From Thursday 19 March the Gateway is operating a pre-booked appointment only service. To book an appointment please call 01843 577000. Please be aware that we are currently experiencing very high call volumes and it may take a while to answer your call.

You can also access a number of council services online.

The Thanet Visitor Information Centre in Margate is closed until further notice.

At present the Council will not be holding formal meetings unless there is business critical content. In essence this means that the Planning Committee, Licensing Board and Licensing Sub-Committees will continue, whilst all other meetings will be cancelled for the time being.

This situation will be reviewed once impending legislation is laid before parliament addressing the ability of Councillors to attend meetings and vote virtually. 

The Licensing Department is operating business as usual, although it may take a little longer than normal to respond to emails and telephone messages.

At the moment, visuals are not being conducted in the normal way.

If you are wishing to licence a vehicle, a video/pictures of the vehicle must be uploaded and sent to licensing@thanet.gov.uk, these photos must be taken on the day you are sending them and must include all four sides and the interior. Once this is accepted, compliance paperwork will be sent to you via email.

A check on the vehicle will be made at a later date.

Application paperwork can be scanned and emailed to licensing@thanet.gov.uk. Please indicate what your enquiry is about in the subject line of the email. You can then make payment by bank transfer – the details are as follows:

National Westminster Bank PLC

Sort Code – 60 14 05

Bank Account – 67834000

Payee – Thanet District Council

Your reference – your licence number ie LN/ or your plate number and whether HC or PH or your full name

Driver applications, whether new or renewals, will need to be submitted by post. Please include original documents in order for us to verify identities. DBS application forms will be available at main reception while the TDC offices remain open.

The Knowledge Test currently arranged for Tuesday 07 April 2020 has been cancelled and attendees have been notified.

All our public toilets and seafront lifts will be closed from 25 March 2020 until further notice as a result of the national measures currently in place to slow the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Thank you for your understanding.

All playgrounds in the district are closed until further notice. This is necessary to meet the Government’s requirements on social distance to slow the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). We appreciate your co-operation. #StayHomeSaveLives