The scam alerts can also be found at: https://safeinwarwickshire.com/2021/05/14/census-21-text-scams-and-other-scam-warnings/

Free Gift Pop Ups Warning

Warwickshire residents have been caught out by scam computer pop ups offering free gifts. To receive their free gift, consumers are asked to input their credit or debit card details to pay for postage and packaging. £1 is usually taken immediately. However, what consumers don’t realise to that they may have unwittingly signed up to a subscription service (for example for face creams or health supplements) and authorised a continuous payment authority. Later on larger amounts of money, usually close to £100 is taken and this continues on a monthly basis until the continuous payment authority is cancelled.

More about continuous payment authority: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/recurring-payments/

Continuous payment authority and subscription scams: https://www.getsafeonline.org/shopping-banking/subscription-traps/

Recycling Banks – Know the Difference!

Recycling banks for clothing and shoes etc. often located in car parks or other public places are a common site and many people use them in the belief that their donations will always benefit charitable causes.

However, not all charity recycling banks are genuine. Scammers sometimes place bogus charity banks amongst genuine ones! These often appear to look like genuine charity recycling banks.

Residents are advised that if you want to ensure that your unwanted items will benefit a charity, read the information on the recycling bins first. Genuine charity bins will usually carry the name and registered number of the charity. You can look up a charity here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission

Recycling banks are also operated by private businesses that collect for profit. These are usually marked with a business name and sometimes a limited company number. Some may be signed ‘commercial recycling’.

Scammers Turn from National Insurance Numbers to NHS Numbers in Telephone Scam

Scammers are now cold calling Warwickshire residents to tell them that their NHS number has been suspended, Warwickshire Trading Standards is warning. Recipients of these bogus recorded phone calls are encouraged to press a number to speak to someone to ‘resolve the problem’. Victims are pressured in to handing over personal and financial information in order to obtain a new NHS number. The more a fraudster knows about you, the easier it is for them to commit identity theft and other frauds.

Never provide cold callers with any personal or financial information.

Help and advice on identity theft: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/a-z-of-fraud/identity-fraud-and-identity-theft

‘Met Police’ Scam

Warwickshire residents have reported receiving bogus phone calls from people claiming to be from the Met (or Metropolitan) Police. The callers claim that the resident’s debit card has been used recently. These bogus callers then attempt to get the call recipient to reveal personal and financial information and may ask them to move their money to a ‘safe’ account that is really controlled by the scammer.

Bank transfer scams: https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/what-to-do-if-you-re-the-victim-of-a-bank-transfer-app-scam-aED6A0l529rc

Census 21 Text Scam

Despite the Census having been completed, some people are still receiving bogus Census text messages. One reads: ‘CENSUS: There is missing information from your Census application.  Failure to update your details may result in a £1000 penalty’. A link then directs the recipient to a scam website.

Another text message states that the recipient has not completed and returned their CENSUS form. Again it threatens the recipient with a £1000 fine and directs them to click on a link in the text message to resolve the matter.

Always treat text messages with caution. Avoid clicking on links in text messages where at all possible. If you think a text message is genuine, visit the organisation or business website by typing the genuine web address in to the web browser.

The Government state on their website that now Census Day has passed, they are sending letters to everyone who hasn’t returned their census. If you receive any sort of communication purporting to be from the census and are not sure if the letter, email or text is genuine or not, you can contact the census to check.

Census has advisers available to help you at the following times:

• Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm
• Saturday, 8am to 1pm

Telephone free: 0800 141 2021 (England)

Visit: https://census.gov.uk/

Safety Campaign Information

Register my Appliance ‘Safer in Seconds’ Campaign

Register my appliance is a public information safety campaign which encourages people to register their domestic appliances so manufacturers know where the products are in case a safety repair is ever needed.

• Never miss out on appliance recalls
• Be the first to know of any safety repairs or recalls
• Improve your after sales service
• Keep in touch with upgrade news

People can register 60+ brands of appliances of up to 12 years old at www.registermyappliance.org.uk

New Blind Cord Safety Campaign

The Government is reminding people of the potential dangers of blind cords and loops to children and the steps they can take to reduce the risks.

Looped blind cords and chains can strangle children and young people. Although changes to standards for blinds in 2014 have led to improved product safety, products installed earlier may not have these safety features and millions of households could be affected.

New blinds with looped cords must have child safety devices installed at the point of manufacture or be sold with the blind.

Safety tips below to help make homes safer

1) Fit a tidy, tensioner or a cleat

Tidies and tensioner should be firmly fixed to an adjoining surface to ensure that the cord or chain is permanently held tight. Cleats should be positioned out of children’s reach on an adjacent surface that is at least 1.5 metres from the floor. After blind use, cords should be fastened up in a figure of eight making sure all the spare cord is secured on the cleat.

2) Move furniture away from windows

Children love to climb so keep furniture away from blinds. This includes cots, beds, highchairs, and play pens.

More help and advice: https://www.rospa.com/campaigns-fundraising/current/blind-cord

To make a consumer complaint or for consumer help and advice, please contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 0808 223 1133.

For consumer or business help and advice, including details of our approved trader scheme, please visit our website: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/tradingstandards

Sign up for regular scam alerts to your email inbox: https://mailchi.mp/warwickshire/scamawareness

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/warwickshiretradingstandards https://twitter.com/WarksTSS

Stratford-on-Avon and Warwick District Councils are working together to produce a new South Warwickshire Local Plan to cover our combined geographic area.

Stratford-on-Avon and Warwick District Councils are currently undertaking a Scoping and Call for Sites consultation, which runs from Monday 10 May until Monday 21 June 2021. This is the first stage in a long process and we want to hear your views. The consultation asks a series of questions about what issues the new Local Plan should cover, and seeks your views on how we should tackle these issues. In particular, it seeks your views on where in South Warwickshire new development should be located and how best we should accommodate growth. At the same time, we are also running a ‘Call for Sites’ inviting suggestions for potential sites to be allocated for a variety of land uses.

Please consider completing the consultation if you have views on housing and development in South Warwickshire. Visit https://www.southwarwickshire.org.uk/swlp/ to complete the consultation

Chris Williams retired from his position as County Councillor for Kineton which includes Avon Dassett. Chris has represented Avon Dassett in various roles for over 20 years.

Former Chairs, Vice-Chairs and Clerk to Avon Dassett Parish Council gave this tribute to Chris:

My best recall is how very supportive he was of little AD and attended our meetings almost every month for years. When I was Chair he even rang me within minutes of getting home to add another issue or make a comment.  Felt he was always approachable.

[Lily Hope Frost, former Chair and Vice-Chair]

Chris was fundamental in helping us gain grant funding for a huge number of projects including actions from the parish plan, the first iteration of the community website, the playground and upkeep of the village. He was a huge supporter of the village.

[Jill Burgess, former Chair and Vice-Chair]

Hearing of Chris Williams stepping back I felt I could not let that event take place without my taking this opportunity to thank him for his great contribution and support to the Avon Dassett Parish Council during my time as Chair.

Always well informed Chris had a valuable ability to present his news from Stratford District Council in an  interesting, informative and engaging manner. He also demonstrated excellent diplomacy. On the odd occasion when I needed to contact him for guidance or support on a local council matter his response was always wise and took all parties in the matter into consideration.

Thank you Chris.

[David Hutt, former Chair]

Chris was always quick to provide answers to questions I had relating to District Council matters and share details of his many contacts in District Council departments.  His position on the Planning Committee made him a useful source of information when dealing with the many planning applications that came through the Parish Council during my time as clerk.

However my fondest memory is rather a comical one:

It was a very hot summer’s evening and we had both doors open to enable fresh air to circulate in the Reading Room during the Parish Council meeting.  At that time the chairs that were used by visitors to the Reading Room were lined up in a row and of the sort that used to be found in office receptions, padded, with deep chair backs.

We were well into the meeting when Rose – my little black cat – slowly ambled into the room, jumped onto the back of the chairs and proceeded to walk back and forth along the chair-backs directly behind the head of Cllr Williams while he was, if memory serves, presenting his District Council report.  I was busy trying to continue taking the minutes and Chris continued with his presentation without missing a beat, even though he must have been well aware of the purring creature behind his head!  Once Chris had completed his report, I lifted Rose off the chairs and she spent the remainder of the meeting curled up on the lap of Cllr Deborah Brangwyn, who was more than happy to look after her while I continued minute-taking.

A silly story, but I couldn’t help but be impressed by the way that Chris carried on unperturbed by our uninvited guest – most professional.

[Margaret Maughan, former clerk]

So on behalf of past chairs, vice chairs and clerk we would like to express our immense thanks to Chris for his decades of service. We hope villagers the next time they consult the website, look at the PC noticeboard or sit on benches in the playpark and around the village will remember Chris’s input with great thanks.

[Sarah Richardson, former Vice-Chair]

In the May election of 2020, Chris Mills was elected as the new county councillor for Kineton & Red Horse which includes Avon Dassett. Please read Chris’s welcome message to Avon Dassett here.

Chris replaces Chris Williams who retired at the election. Chris Williams represented Avon Dassett at District and County Councillor for over two decades. You can read a tribute to Chris from former Chairs, Vice Chairs and Clerk of Avon Dassett parish council here.

FYI and onward dissemination to your networks and contacts.

Do you have an idea for a project that will encourage investment in skills, local business, improving communities as a place to live, or supporting people into employment?  

If so, you may be eligible for a share of a £220m Government Community Renewal Fund grant administered by Warwickshire County Council. For more information visit: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/crf 

The last year has been difficult for everyone in different ways. 

The data shows that Minority Ethnic communities were hit hardest with COVID. 

We are keen to understand how COVID has affected these communities within Warwickshire. 

The survey will ask questions about how COVID has affected you. This information would be really helpful to understand where we need to support communities in our recovery from COVID-19.

Please take part in this survey and encourage others from BAME communities to take part in the survey. Your details will be kept confidential. 

The survey is open until 30th April 2021: http://warwickshire.gov.uk/covidsurvey

If you are aged between 16 and 18 you may be interested in this scheme:

• Youth champion flyer updated v2 MJ

Avon Dassett Annual Parish Meeting will take place on Wednesday 5th May at 7pm. The Annual Parish Meeting is a legacy from the Middle Ages, when Local Councils did not exist, and all local decision making was carried out by meetings of the whole community, taking place in the church vestry.

The Annual Parish Meeting is open to all electors, who have the right not only to attend but also to speak on any matter of local interest. This is in contrast to a Council meeting, where electors who are not Councillors have no automatic right to speak (though the parish council does have a set time when electors can raise matters of concern to them).

There will also be a regular parish council meeting and the parish council AGM taking place via Zoom.

In Warwickshire, a group has been set up to support those suffering from the emotional effects of Long Covid via a partnership between Warwickshire County Council and Brunswick Healthy Living Centre (‘BHLC’).

If you are interested in joining this group or obtaining further details, please contact  longcovidsupport@brunswickhlc.org.uk  or call 01926 422123.

A welcome pack and registration is available by following this link.

(BHLC is a registered charity which provides services related to health and well being, and is based at Brunswick Hub in Leamington Spa)