Cumbria County Council will continue to provide key services over the Christmas period. What follows are details of opening times, out-of-hours contacts and other relevant information.
Adult Social Care and Children's Services (for children's social care).
Services will operate as usual up until 4.30pm on 23rd December. Offices will be closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and 27th December.
During this period the out-of-hours number - 01228 526690 - can be used 24-hours a day for adult social care and children social care emergencies.
Offices will be open as normal on the 28th, 29th and 30th December, but closed again on 31st December, New Year's day and 2nd January when the out-of-hours number will be available for emergencies. Services return to normal on 3rd January.
Meals on Wheels
The Meals on Wheels service will be operating over the Christmas period. Contacts are:
North - Barbara Wildey/Pam Poyser 01228 607693
South - Ellen Shepherd/Lynda Hadley 01229 894338
West - Anne Turner 01900 325880
Recycling and Rubbish
County council civic amenity sites across the county will be open at usual times but closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, 27th December, New Year's Day and 2nd January. Please remember to recycle as much of your Christmas waste as possible.
The Highways Hotline
The Highways Hotline (0845 6096609) is open 24 hours a day for reporting highways problems. During public holidays over the Christmas period calls should be limited to serious highways problems such as flooding, landslips, severe weather problems etc.
Winter Maintenance
Winter Maintenance crews from Cumbria Highways, the county council's highways partnership, will be on-call throughout the Christmas period to deal with any effects of severe weather on the county's roads.
Libraries
All libraries will close on Saturday, 24th December. Workington, Whitehaven, Carlisle, Penrith, Kendal and Barrow Libraries will be open on the 28th, 29th & 30th December from 10am-5pm. All libraries will open as usual from Tuesday 3rd January 2006.
Transport and Travel
Public transport information available from Traveline on 0870 608 2 608.
The line is usually open between 7am and 8pm but will close at 6pm on Christmas Eve and remain closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. It will open again as usual on 27th December, and close at 6pm on New Year's Eve and remain closed on New Year's Day.
Media Enquiries
The Media Team is operating an emergency only service for the media between 24th December and 2nd January. We will not be handling routine enquiries during this period.
For Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day contact Steve Park on 07966 111872.
For December 27th and 28th contact Lynn Clark. 07966 116948.
For December 29th and 30th contact Gavin Capstick 07966 116949.
For December 31st , January 1st and 2nd contact Justin Hawkins on 07966 116947.