Mayor assures Mansfield residents the council is doing all it can to be there for those in need

But I want to assure you that your local council is doing everything it can to assist each and every one of us through these difficult times.

The council’s Facebook page and website provide vital sources of information for the public with up-to-date information on any council services that are affected.

The council is focusing on maintaining critical services in the long term.

This includes waste and recycling collections, the cemeteries service and emergency housing repairs to keep tenants safe.

It is also providing vital financial support to businesses and advising residents on a range of issues including private landlord and tenancy matters.

In these extraordinary times we all have to be more flexible, patient and tolerant and must learn to work and live in different ways.

Council officers are working as hard as they can with reduced staffing levels, yet there is so much good work being carried out.

One project that has been quickly coordinated is the Community Response Network, a crowd-funding project to assist those most in need, to which the council has pledged £25,000.

If you feel able to help by donating whatever you can, please click here.

Looking after the most vulnerable residents at this worrying time is a priority for myself and the council.

The Coronavirus Community Hub website gives information and contact details for food banks, prescriptions, domestic assistance, physical activity and mental/emotional support and more.

The council is also delivering food parcels to extremely vulnerable people in the community.

If you don’t have family, friends or neighbours to help you with essentials, call 0300 5008080.

For urgent issues outside of office hours, call the emergency number on 01623 463050.

I am so proud of the collective response of the council, its employees, our councillors and community volunteers, all working together to ease the burden on our residents.

The only way we will beat this virus is to stay at home, stick to the two-metre social distancing rule and keep washing our hands to reduce its spread.

Like many of you, I take part in the ‘clap for the NHS’ campaign and find it incredibly moving.

On behalf of Mansfield, I must thank our NHS carers and support workers as well as all other key workers who are doing an incredible job in difficult times.

Stay home, protect the NHS, save lives.

Andy Abrahams is the mayor of Mansfield.