Cambridgeshire County Council update 20th April 2020

Published: 20 April 2020

Highways teams are key workers
Crews across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough continue to carry out safety critical work and essential highways maintenance, any on-going work is being carried out in accordance with government health and safety measures, with workforces practising social distancing.

Both councils are assessing the situation and given the current low volumes of traffic, will review and work with our contractors to see if any projects can start again whilst adhering to the government guidelines.

Highways teams are aware of concerns from members of the public around continuing work at this time and are keen to stress that any work will only be carried out where it is safe to do so.
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Perkins Great Eastern Run cancelled for 2020
Peterborough City Council has made the difficult decision to cancel one of the highlights of the city's events calendar - the Perkins Great Eastern Run - because of the ongoing disruption caused by the Coronavirus outbreak.

The launch of this year's race was due to take place in March, around the same time the country was being asked by the Government to socially isolate.

Since then the city council has been in discussion with Vivacity, which is taking over the management of the race, and the main sponsor, Perkins Engines, about whether a race would be viable this year.

With the continued uncertainty about when the social distancing measures will be lifted, the city council has decided to cancel this year's race, usually held in October.

Last month the council announced that it would be passing control of the management of the race across to the city's cultural and leisure trust, Vivacity.

The council wants to be able to grow the race and attract additional sponsorship and it believes that Vivacity is best placed to do this with its links with the culture and leisure sector and knowledge.

The council will continue to support the event in a number of ways including managing the necessary road closures and leading on the public safety aspects. Perkins Engines will continue as the main sponsor in 2021.
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Schools and nurseries upload fun videos to keep the kids entertained at home
As schools and nurseries are now open only to children of key workers and vulnerable children, many parents have been searching for new ways to keep their little ones entertained, often turning to sport and activity videos to follow along with in their homes.

But Joe Wicks isn’t the only one providing fun for the kids in their living rooms, as Cambridgeshire schools and nurseries have been uploading videos for the whole family to join in with.

Staff at Rackham Primary School in Witchford put together a video on YouTube with a code for children to crack, while Buttons and Bows Pre-school in Sawtry is adding videos of staff reading books, poems and performing song and dance to their Facebook page every day.

Buttons and Bows recently received an Ofsted rating of outstanding, after the inspection showed that children felt safe and secure at the nursey and established ‘extremely strong bonds with staff and show genuine affection for them.’

The Ofsted report also said leaders are highly qualified, knowledgeable and passionate in their roles, while all children have equal opportunities to achieve their full potential.