Town Council Office now open

As Coronavirus started to race across the world last year, our community faced many challenges and the residents of Midsomer Norton went to extraordinary lengths to protect each other, their friends, and their families from the effects of the virus. A couple of consequences of the pandemic were the national lockdowns and the working from home mandate.

As a result of this, on Friday 20th March 2020, Council staff said goodbye to each other and the Council offices which were then closed for the foreseeable future. The office staff found themselves starting work on the morning of Monday 23rd March 2020 at home! Definitely a new experience for us all. The Town Hall offices may have been closed, but the Town Council remained firmly open for business, continuing to ensure public services were maintained and running where possible. Our Town Warden maintained his presence out and about in the Town and was able to work outside by following the government guidelines on social distancing. We saw how hard Dave works around the Town in the last issue of Midsomer Norton Life and we would like to thank Dave for his continued commitment during these difficult circumstances. Town Council and Committee meetings were moved online and held remotely via Zoom, because of a change in legislation to reflect these unparalleled times. The Town Council was able to hold all their meetings in this way for the duration of the restrictions.

After a lifting of restrictions, the Town Council offices were reopened on Monday 19th July 2021. Currently two members of the office staff are in the Town Hall, while further staff continue to work from home until a phased and gradual return of all staff by the end of August. A deep clean of the office was carried out with every workstation cleared and thoroughly cleaned. Ventilation was an issue in the office because of many layers of paint being applied to the window frames over the years. The Town Warden was able to rectify this and the windows can now be opened to let air flow through the office. To ensure the continued safety of staff and visitors, we would like to request that visits to the office are kept to a minimum. Please arrange an appointment where face to face contact is required. Contact details can be found on our website. The office staff are always happy to help and are available via email or telephone during office hours. We do hope that the numbers in the area continue to improve as they currently are at the time of writing, and that normal service can resume as soon as possible.