News

Please click here for a downloadable pdf version of the survey

Winter edition 010

Ottway Walk and Whitehill play areas will remain open during this lockdown, if you visit them please ensure you follow Government advice on social distancing and hand washing. Stay and play safe!

The latest edition of Welwyn News will be delivered through residents doors by the end of August. If for any reason you don’t receive a copy you can pick on up from the Parish Council office between 9am and 1pm Monday to Friday. You can also view a copy on line Welwyn News

Following recent activity on local social media pages Welwyn Parish Council have liaised with Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council with regards to the status of Singlers Marsh. As a result, Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council Leader, Councillor Tony Kingsbury, has made the following statement: “No decisions on the ownership of Singlers Marsh will be considered until the overall local plan site allocations are approved”

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council are proposing to introduce restrictions by way of two disabled parking bays on Church Street, Welwyn. Details of the Order can be found by clicking here and a detailed map showing the location can be found here.

Testing in Hertfordshire & new ‘Test and Trace’ explained

The new national NHS ‘Test and Trace’ programme has been launched and is now in operation in Hertfordshire.

This means that if you have a test which shows that you have coronavirus, you will be contacted by someone from the NHS Test and Trace team. You will be told that you must self-isolate for 14 days and will be asked to supply the details of anyone you have been in close contact with, from the two days before your symptoms started. Those people will then also be contacted by the NHS Test and Trace team and told that they need to self-isolate for 14 days.

If you receive a positive test result, or if you have been in close contact with someone who tests positive, it is very important for your own health and the health of those around you that you self-isolate. This applies even if you feel well and don’t have any symptoms. You could still be a carrier of the virus and the people you meet could get the virus from you and be seriously affected.

Stopping COVID-19 from spreading is crucial to prevent more lives from being lost.

Genuine contract tracers will:

•  call you from 0300 013 5000
•  send you text messages from ‘NHS’
•  ask you to sign into the NHS test and trace contact-tracing website(link is external)
•  ask for your full name and date of birth to confirm your identity, and postcode to offer support

           while self-isolating

•  ask about the coronavirus symptoms you have been experiencing
•  ask you to provide the name, telephone number and/or email address of anyone you have had  

           close contact with from the two days before your symptoms started

•  ask if anyone you have been in contact with is under 18 or lives outside of England.

Search online for ‘NHS Test and Trace – ‘how it works(link is external)’ for more information. You will never be asked to disclose bank details or ring an expensive phone number beginning with 09 or 087 by a genuine Test and Trace team member.

Improved access to test booking

Anyone in Hertfordshire with suspected coronavirus symptoms can book either a mail-order or drive-through test if they need one. For those who can’t go online to www.gov.uk/coronavirus(link is external) to book a test, or for anyone who needs additional help, a new telephone call centre is available – ring 119 between 7am and 11pm or 18001

The coronavirus call centre can help you to book a test, answer your enquiries about the testing process and what to do once you have your result, or chase up any delayed results.

Hertfordshire’s mobile test sites are all open between 10am and 4pm and are as follows:

• on Thursdays in Watford at the Central Watford leisure centre, WD17 3HA
• on Saturdays in Hertford at County Hall, Pegs Lane, SG13 8DQ
• on Sundays in Watford at the Central Watford leisure centre, WD17 3HA
• on Mondays in Stevenage, off Six Hills Way, SG1 2DF. Please follow the signs to the test centre, to ensure that you do not join a queue for the Household Waste Recycling Centre.

Please bring a phone to the test centre if you have one.

New antibody tests becoming available in Hertfordshire

A new COVID-19 antibody blood test, which shows whether someone has been exposed to the virus in the past, is beginning to be rolled out to NHS staff in Hertfordshire. The test is starting to become available to those who want to take part and is carried out by a healthcare professional, taking a sample of blood.

Although the test can tell somebody that they have had the virus in the past, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they are immune to getting it in future. Everyone must continue to follow social distancing and hygiene measures and must isolate if they are a close contact of someone who tests positive for coronavirus.

The test is designed to help the government and scientists to gain a better understanding of how the virus spreads and how different areas have been affected.

Please click here for information and contact numbers that you might find useful at this time.

Everything within is a booklet produced by the Welwyn Parish Plan Group and includes valuable information about local services available to the vulnerable members of our community. Welwyn Parish Council has a few copies in the office, if you or someone you know could benefit from having a copy, please let us know by calling 01438 716667 or emailing office@welwynpc.org.uk and we will post one out.

Please click here to view Everything Within on line.

highways England are currently developing the detailed design for a smart motorway between A1(M) junctions 6 and 8.

This scheme will be “All Lane Running”. This means that the hard shoulder will be converted into a permanent running lane for drivers to help reduce congestion and variable speed limits will be used to smooth traffic flow. The new scheme will mean drivers will benefit from a three-lane motorway between junction 3 (Hatfield) and junction 9 (Baldock / Letchworth).

Work on the A1(M) J6-8 will start in March 2020. The existing hard shoulder will be strengthened so t two lanes can be kept open for traffic when work starts on the central reservation, minimising disruption for road users as much as possible.

Work starting March 2020 will include:

• detailed design development
• strengthening the hard shoulder
• structural survey work
• site clearance, including vegetation on the verge
• detailed topography, drainage and road surface surveys
• installing new gantry structures to display overhead electronic message signs
• installing CCTV cameras with full coverage of all the lanes
• installing incident detection and automatic sign systems
• installing enforcement cameras
• installing emergency roadside telephones
• installing electronic signals and signage
• constructing emergency areas (identifiable by orange road surfaces), with distinctive advanced signs
• upgrading central reservation by installing rigid concrete barrier
• laying low-noise road surface
• replanting the verges

Timeline

For more information please click here.