Coronavirus

If you need help with something that is not available online, you can also contact us

Community Hub

The hub remains open for the foreseeable future. See our page on community support for more information on the hub

Council meetings

The annual council meeting (which takes place on 21 May 2020) will be held virtually and streamed live on the council’s YouTube channel. The new cycle of committee meetings will follow and all be held virtually and streamed live until further notice. Residents can still participate in meetings and ask questions. You can read the procedures for these meetings

Council Tax

Staff continue to deal with enquiries about Council Tax.

You need to continue to pay your Council Tax as normal, but if you’re having difficulties, see our page on Council Tax Support

Councillors

Local councillors continue to support residents with enquiries and carry out casework. Councillors can be contacted by phone or email. You can view full contact information for councillors

Elections

The local and Police and Crime Commissioner elections are postponed until May 2021.

Essex County Council

You can see how Essex County Council services in Harlow are affected (like schools, libraries and adult social care) on the Essex County Council website 

Events

Harlow Carnival has been postponed until next year and other planned events such as fireworks night will be reviewed later in the year using the latest government guidance.

Grass cutting

The grass cutting programme has now been extended to cut other areas of the town alongside the national measures where households can exercise outdoors unlimited. It will take a while for the programme to catch up so some grass is going to be long whilst HTS work towards the resumption of a full service.

Harlow Museum and Walled Gardens

The Walled Gardens are open, but the inside of Harlow Museum is currently closed until further notice.

The gardens are open every Saturday from 25 July 2020, from 10am to 4pm - last entry at 3.30pm.

There is space for people to sit and bring refreshments and dogs are welcome on leads. Toilets are open. 

Whilst the inside of the museum is shut, we are working on a new project living through lockdown which you can be a part of.

Harlow Playhouse

The Playhouse is now beginning to reopen. From Monday 27 July studio spaces will reopen and from 1 September the café and bar spaces will also reopen. There will be changes to how the spaces will be accessed to keep everyone safe. 

At the moment, all performances that were scheduled to take place in September and October are postponed. If you have a ticket for a performance, the Playhouse staff will contact you to discuss transferring your ticket to the revised date, a credit voucher, donation or refund. 

For more information check the Playhouse website

During its closure the staff have developed a digital programme through its Facebook page to keep residents entertained. 

Housing

See our page on housing and rent

Latton Bush Centre

The centre remains open with reduced opening hours to allow business tenants to access premises and continue to provide services.

Leah Manning Centre

Leah Manning remains closed until further notice. Staff continue to contact clients regularly to ensure their welfare and other support and drop off essential items.

Licensing

Our priority will be to ensure that existing licence holders can continue to operate, where possible. For all enquiries email the licensing team licensing@harlow.gov.uk and we will aim to respond to you within 5 working days. 

The issuing of taxi licences is continuing through the introduction of a new remote working system.

Litter

We are continuing to litter pick, as well as empty litter and dog bins.

Local outbreaks

The local response to outbreaks and any measures that are put in place locally to prevent further spread of coronavirus are the responsibility of Essex County Council (ECC). ECC are also responsible for the local test and trace service, which works with the national system. For more information on this visit the ECC website. Any local measures that are put in place would be fully communicated to the community by ECC.

Parking and car parks

Enforcement activities in the town are carried out by the North Essex Parking Partnership (NEPP).

Parking patrols restarted on 7 May 2020 and focus on requests for enforcement received from residents. Updates from the partnership can be found on the NEPP website.

Car parks next to fields around the town have reopened as well as the Town Park car parks.

From 6 July 2020 charges in Harlow Council-owned car parks in the town centre, Town Park and neighbourhood shopping centres are reintroduced. 

It will still be free to park for up to 1 hour in the neighbourhood shopping car parks at Bush Fair, The Stow and Old Harlow and free all day at the weekends and after 5pm.

It will also still be free parking for up to 1 hour in the car parks in the Town Park, River Way and Burnt Mill Lock and free parking in these car parks for up to 2 hours at the weekends.

You can read more about council car park charges in our news story

Parndon Wood Nature Reserve

The reserve is currently still closed.

Payments

You need to continue to pay your council bills. Whilst we are closed, you can make payments online. 

This includes:

• Council Tax
• housing and garage rents
• business rates
• service charges
• contents insurance
• benefit overpayments

You can also pay using the 24 hour, automated telephone payments line 01279 446600

Direct debits or standing orders can be set up. Rent can also be paid by a payment or post office card at a local payment point or post office. There is help and support available to residents who genuinely cannot pay bills at this time.

Pest treatments

We are currently not providing any pest treatments.

Pets’ Corner

Although the government have said zoos can open from 15 June 2020, the main part of Pets’ Corner, including the shop, will remain closed for now as we need to consider what measures need to be put in place to protect visitors, staff and our volunteers from the virus. 

Whilst the main enclosed facility at Pets’ Corner is closed, you are still able to see some animals in the outside paddocks within the town park. We are looking at taking more of the animals out to this area and offering talks and questions and answer sessions with the various animal keepers.

Throughout the pandemic, staff have continued to care and exercise the animals on a daily basis including taking animals to and from the paddocks. 

Planning

Planning officers continue to determine planning applications as normal and the council’s first virtual planning committee will take place at the end of May. The Local Plan Main Modifications consultation was extended until 31 May 2020.

Playgrounds and outdoor sports facilities

Playgrounds reopened from 30 July 2020. You can read more in our playgrounds reopening news story

The inclusive playground located next to Pets' Corner, remains closed because it needs repairs due to vandalism.

Council-owned tennis courts, basketball courts, multi-use games areas and the skate park remain closed while we review what hygiene and social distancing measures are needed to help stop any spread of the virus.

Privacy

You can read our coronavirus privacy notice for information on how we will use your data during this pandemic.

Safety and crime

Our Community Safety team continue to carry out patrols around the town and monitoring restrictions working alongside the police.

Sam’s Place

Sam’s Place remains closed until further notice. During the service’s closure regular contact is being made with children and families.

Street cleaning

We have now resumed our full street cleaning service and are working to catch up with outstanding street cleaning. We are focussed on clearing fly tips as quickly as possible.

Supported housing

Housing officers remain in regularly contact with tenants. The Careline service continues to operate 24 hours a day to provide support of the most vulnerable residents. Supported housing common rooms remain closed for gatherings and individual use. Residents still have access to communal laundry facilities via common rooms.

Town Park

The Town Park remains open for all to enjoy and has been open during the outbreak.

The car parks have reopened, as have the public toilets by Pets' Corner, but playgrounds, skate park and outdoor gym equipment remain closed until further notice.

Spurriers Café is open for takeway, 7 days a week.

We ask all visitors to respect the current government guidelines for open spaces, such as 2m social distancing and remaining in groups of no more than 6 people - with 160 acres we have plenty of room! We also ask you to help our litter teams by taking your litter home with you where possible.

Our Town Park volunteers have been busy watering and weeding plants during a very dry period, and hosting the Harlow Grows project, where 300 vegetable boxes and compost were distributed to local houses to grow their own vegetables. The Walled Garden has also been used to provide hanging baskets filled with bedding plants, which have been placed around the park and other places across Harlow to provide a splash of colour and lift spirits.

We look forward to seeing you enjoying our park, voted one of the 10 favourite parks in 2019!

Trees

We will be dealing with trees on a case by case basis with each case being individually risk assessed. Trees posing a risk to persons or property will continue to be the priority.

Youth Council

The Youth Council are currently not meeting but regular contact is being made with youth councillors to support their wellbeing.