Christmas message from ELDC leader, Councillor Craig Leyland

“I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas - the best Christmas that you can have

“It has been an incredibly challenging year and I know many families have had to deal with tragedy because of Covid-19 and our thoughts are with you.

“I would like to pay great tribute to our communities and volunteers who have supported our most vulnerable residents and have engendered a fantastic community spirit through this awful time - whether it has been supporting people shopping or collecting prescriptions it has been an immense effort and something to behold and I would like to thank you for that

“I would like to give great recognition to our officer core - our services have been maintained through the pandemic and our waste collection teams have been fantastic, collecting through very difficult circumstances and doing their job really well across the district

“I’d like to acknowledge the incredible work of our wellbeing teams who have supported district colleagues across the county to make sure that our most vulnerable residents are cared for and supported as they have been in self isolation and shielding.

“That work continues.

“Our economic development teams have also delivered business grants and various schemes over the last few months that have had to be delivered fairly and in very swift time and some of the discretionary work that has gone on has been immense being set up so quickly.

“I am very pleased to see that being done and those teams have worked incredibly hard, dealing with people affected by the business impacts of this has been very challenging.

“I would also like to thank the teams that have been dealt with in our homelessness challenge - they have worked so well, again in very challenging circumstances, to make sure that our homeless community have been housed as best as they can during this difficult time, some of our most vulnerable people.

“We have all gathered around together to do the best that we can to support each other and as Christmas approaches, it is not the easiest time for many people and I’ll just urge you - if you have neighbours that you need to check on please do

“Do it safely of course but just saying hello can make all the difference.

“Social isolation has been a massive issue during this Covid pandemic and we need to make sure that we keep looking out for each other.

“Many families will not be able to be united as they usually are at this time of year, and that will cause challenge, upset and stress for many families and it is not going to be easy but I do wish you the very best Christmas that you can have.

“There is hope because of the vaccine being rolled out and of course we need to be patient as that is done and notification will come from the NHS when all the vaccination centres are operational so please be patient - that is ongoing work and we are fully supportive of our NHS colleagues as that is rolled out.

“So I wish you all the very best Christmas that you can have in these challenging times, look after yourselves, look out for each other and let’s have a better 2021.

“Thank you!”