Welcome to the Launcells Parish Council Website
Launcells has been an interactive parish since 2013, offering online access to its residents and beyond.
We have just upgraded our website to comply with the new website regulations for 2020.
Please browse and let us know what you think and please tell us if there is anything that you feel the website could add to benefit users.
Thank you
Launcells Parish Council
Parish Council Meeting 07/10/24
Notice is given that Launcells Parish Council will be holding a parish council meeting in Launcells Parish Hall on Monday 7th October at 7.30pm.
If you would like to share your views on an agenda item, but are unable / uncomfortable attending, please email your comments to launcellspc@gmail.com no later than midday on Saturday 5th October.
Each year we hold an event to bring our community together to think about ways we can support our ambition for zero suicides in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
This year's Towards Zero event will take place on Wednesday 13 November, 9am to 4pm in the Pavilion Conference Centre, at Royal Cornwall Showground, Wadebridge.
If your child was born between 1 September 2013 and 31 August 2014, there's not long left to apply for a secondary school place.
The application deadline is 31 October, so fill out your choices on the online application form soon.
Low-income households to benefit from £4.5m Household Support Fund
Low-income households in Cornwall will once again receive payments to help with the ongoing cost of living crisis after we secured £4.5m from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), through the Household Support Fund (HSF).
Payments of £80 per person will be made automatically to those eligible, including pensioners receiving council tax support and vulnerable adults on a low income.
In a change to the way HSF funds are allocated, this latest round will see an £80 payment made to an additional 3,000 pensioners in receipt of council tax support – previously only those in receipt of pension credit received payments.
A payment of £80 per child will also be made to low-income households who claim council tax support.
The latest round of funding will run to 31 March 2025, and will provide urgent support for those most in need as living costs continue to rise.
What to put in your food recyling
We've started collecting food waste across most parts of Cornwall as part of our new waste, recycling and rubbish service.
Here's some tips about using your food waste caddy.
You don’t need to line it, but if you like, you can use compostable liners or old newspaper.
You can pop in things like:
tea bags,
veg peelings,
eggshells,
banana skins
Once it’s full, just empty it into your outdoor green food waste bin and lock the handle! Please don't put your silver caddy inside your outdoor food waste bin.
Find out more about the new food waste, rubbish, and recycling collections and when they’re starting using the button below.
Reduce your risk of developing dementia
We’re sharing some top tips for reducing your risk.
There are a whole range of things you can do to lower your chances of getting Alzheimer’s disease and all types of dementia in later life.
In this video Dr Vicky Brown, shares her top tip to avoid loneliness and isolation.
New chatbot to help you get information fast
Residents in Cornwall will get help from a new and improved chatbot which has just launched on the Cornwall Council website.
The chatbot nick named ‘Ker-Know' can answer questions on all the services offered by the council, from waste to education, and do tasks by responding to messages in real time.
It does this by using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to search the website on behalf of residents, intelligently responding to their inquiries.
Ker-Know can now resolve almost three quarters of enquiries received by the council daily.
New Reuse shops open
Reuse shops are opening at some of Cornwall’s Household Waste and Recycling Centres (HWRCs).
Run by Suez Recycling and Recovery UK, which operates Cornwall’s HWRCs on behalf of Cornwall Council, Kernow Reuse Shops will stock a variety of pre-loved items including home and garden accessories, small electricals, sports equipment, books and DVDs, and everything in between. The items are sold at the shops for affordable prices.
Shops have already opened at Truro and St Austell HWRCs, with more due to open in the coming months.
People can donate pre-loved items for the shops at all of Cornwall’s HWRCs. Donated items will be sold at the reuse shops or given to charity organisations.
Kernow Reuse shops will be open between 9am and 4pm seven days a week.
Protect your baby from RSV
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major respiratory virus that is most common over the winter period, typically October to February. While the symptoms are mild for many, for some it can have much more serious consequences. The new RSV vaccination programme launched in September will help to prevent thousands of cases of RSV, GP visits and hospital admissions.
Around 20,000 babies under 1 are hospitalised with RSV in the UK each year. Sadly we see 20 to 30 infant deaths as well. You can have the RSV vaccine from week 28 of your pregnancy. Having the RSV vaccination in pregnancy reduces your baby’s risk of severe RSV lung infection by around 70% in the first 6 months of life. Speak to your maternity service or GP practice to arrange an appointment
£3,900 for five minutes of your time?
Help spread the word to anyone you know over State Pension age that they could be missing out on extra money.
Spending 5 minutes using the government's online 'can I claim Pension Credit?' checker tool and find out if they're entitled to extra support.
They might be allowed to claim even if they :
have savings
own their own home
are working
are getting a small occupational pension
have been turned down in the past
Remember, you can report lots of things to us online like:
- missed waste collections
fly tipping
full litter bins
graffiti
broken street lights
potholes
abandoned vehicles
How do your kids travel to school?
Please complete our school travel survey to help us understand their journeys.
We’ll use your responses to help us plan future improvements.
Know a young person who's struggling?
Do you know a young person who's faced disadvantages in their life?
Has fallen out of education and training, maybe? Is struggling to find a steady job? Or is vulnerable in some other way?
If your answer is 'yep', then we hope that 'Yep!' will prove to be the solution, too.
Yep! is a collaboration between some truly brilliant community partners and Cornwall Council to give 16 to 24-year-olds having a tough time support with:
job searching, CV and interview skills
work experience, apprenticeships and internship opportunities
enterprise skills
motivation and confidence building
mental health
passing the driving theory test
budgeting, debt management, accessing benefits
ICT and technology skills
and more
If you think you might know a young person who'd benefit from this support, hit the button below.
To qualify, they need to be aged 16 to 24, living in Cornwall or the Isles of Scilly, be struggling in 16+ education, or not be in employment, education, or training at all.
Borrow a blood pressure monitor with your next library book
You can now borrow a blood pressure monitor free of charge from your local library, just like you borrow a book - all you need is a library card.
Around a third of adults in the UK have high blood pressure, although many don't realise it.
Known as the silent killer, high blood pressure rarely causes symptoms but, if left untreated, increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
The borrow a blood pressure monitor scheme launched as part of this week's Know your Numbers Week - the national campaign encouraging people to check their blood pressure at home.
Climate and Nature Fund
Cornwall Council’s Climate and Nature Fund is open for applications for projects and activities that help Cornwall tackle and respond to climate change and promote nature recovery. The fund provides up to £5,000 in support and up to £15,000 for exceptional initiatives.
Applications from all sectors will be accepted, and projects which show a strong community impact and promote public access will be prioritised. All project applications will be judged on merit and must support either nature recovery, carbon reduction or tree planting projects. See the Crowdfunder website for details of how to apply.
Not sure if it’s for you? Take a look at these case studies to see how the fund has helped other projects:
Time to wave goodbye to your old wetsuit?
You can now take pre-loved wetsuits, even if they’re ripped or marked, to your local household waste and recycling centre.
After being cleaned and repaired, they'll be sold at affordable prices at Wave Project's shop in Newquay.
Items that can't be repaired are recycled into new items such as pencil cases and bags.
All proceeds support The Wave Project's Surf Therapy initiatives, helping young people improve their mental health and wellbeing through the power of surfing.
Make sure your children’s vaccinations are up to date before starting school
Before your child starts school, it's important to make sure their vaccinations are up to date.
By the time they reach reception class, they should have received their 4-in-1 pre-school booster, which provides continued protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), and polio. They should also have had their second MMR vaccination, which provides protection from measles, mumps, and rubella.
If you're not sure whether your child has had any, one, or two doses of the MMR vaccine, you can check their personal child health record (the Red Book). If you're still unsure, speak to your GP. It's better to have two doses of the MMR vaccine now rather than risk leaving your child unprotected.
Remember, it's important that vaccinations are given on time for the best protection. So make sure your child is up to date before they start school.
Eat Well, Spend Less... time for dahl!
Join our Healthy Cornwall team for episode 10 of our Eat Well, Spend Less cookery series!
This time, we're whipping up a delicious, budget-friendly dahl packed with veggies, lentils and spices.
Enjoy it on its own, with rice, or with some bread to soak up the tasty sauce. We hope you love it!
How much do you know about dementia?
Our public health team want to learn more about people's understanding of dementia.
To help them, we'd like you to answer one simple question using our online poll. Use the button below to take part.
Listen to our new podcast
Cornwall Council’s Together for Families service has launched a new podcast series called Empowered Parenting.
We will be releasing new episodes each week, bringing you top tips and guest speakers to discuss a range of topics relating to your parenting journey.
This first episode is an introduction to the podcast series as well as an overview of the wider parenting support on offer in Cornwall.
Help us tackle domestic abuse and sexual violence
The Safer Cornwall partnership has made fresh calls for all residents to help end domestic abuse and sexual violence in our communities.
People can do this by calling out sexism and misogyny when they witness it, and by reporting abusers to the police.
The plea comes after new statistics reveal sexual offences in Cornwall have risen by 40% over the past four years with 1,700 reported to police in the year up to May 2024. This equates to more than 30 a week.
Encouraging a lifetime love of reading
We're giving library cards to little ones across Cornwall to help encourage a lifetime love of reading.
When new parents register the birth of their baby, we’ll give their child their very own My First Library Card and encourage mum or dad to use it to sign up to their local library.
Cornwall’s libraries have lots of good books for a baby’s first year and beyond. There are high contrast monochrome books that are great for a newborn’s developing vision, textured, sensory and interactive books for busy babies, and picture books and nursery rhymes to entertain, engage and soothe babies and toddlers
Getting children engaged with books and reading from an early age has so many benefits. Books help with brain development, build imagination and help develop language skills.
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Want to be part of a scientific effort to monitor changes to Cornwall's coastline?
It's as simple as taking a photo on your phone!
Find out how you can get involved by watching this short animation and looking out for one of the 17 CoastSnap stations across Cornwall.
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Did you know that millions of people in the UK are using the NHS App to manage their health the easy way?
From viewing their health records and test results to ordering prescriptions, the NHS App makes managing your health easier.
Find out how you can order repeat prescriptions using the NHS App.
Find out how you can securely view your health records in the NHS App
Learn First Aid Gestures
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Community Emergency Plan
The community emergency plan document can be found here
It was created in 2018 and distributed to all parish households - some details have changed but the general information is still relevant.
November 2020 -
Covid - 19 Directory amended pdf here
Launcells Parish Defibrillators
The first defibrillator is located at Launcells Parish Hall in Grimscott - EX23 9LS
The second is It is located at the Red Post Inn, by the post box - EX23 9NW.
As before, should you need access to this "self-guiding" piece of equipment, just phone 999 and follow the instructions on the cabinet. You will then be given the access code to open it. The machine then tells you how to use it.
We would hope to arrange another set of training for the use of a defibrillator, once we return to normal, but in the meanwhile, attached is the note that was in the Parish Magazine a while back.