Opinion: 'Take care in the colder conditions and apply for Winter Warmth Funding', writes Wayne Fitzgerald

Winter is finally here and we are reminding people that severely cold weather can be a risk to your health, especially if you're over 65, under five or have a long-term health condition.

It goes without saying that you should heat your home, with the official advice stating that you should do so to at least 18C as this minimises risks of heart attacks, strokes or breathing problems. If you can't heat all the rooms you use, heat the living room during the day and your bedroom just before you go to bed.

Try to avoid going out in cold icy weather but if you do need to go outside wear shoes with slip resistant grip.

Wear a few layers of thin clothing rather than one thick layer, as this will trap the heat better to keep you warm. Thin layers of clothes made from cotton, wool or fleecy fibres are particularly good for maintaining body heat.

It is also important that you have frequent hot food and drinks as these can help to keep you warm.

We are also asking everyone to remember the needs of friends, relatives and neighbours who could be at risk during this period of cold weather.

Please take extra care when out driving at this time of year and on this note, I would like to thank our dedicated gritting crews who are working around the clock to keep our highways and pavements safe.

When we are all tucked up in bed at night, they are out making sure our roads are as safe as possible.

I would also like to remind people that the council is supporting vulnerable residents through our winter hubs across the city, which provide food and other essential items for anyone struggling with the rising costs of living. Visit www.peterborough.gov.uk to find your nearest hub.

Winter Warmth Funding

With the cold weather set to continue, the council and our partners still have a number of ways to help people who are struggling to pay their utility bills, through initiatives such as Winter Warmth Funding.

These programmes include LEAP, a free fuel poverty outreach service helping vulnerable residents at no cost to the council or residents.

There are eligibility criteria for the service, and if these are met you may be able to receive help to service, repair or replace your boiler, fit double glazing, address damp issues or many other measures.

Green Energy Switch performs the home visits, and in November they completed 65 visits to homes in Peterborough. Those were part of 590 carried out in the past 12 months which have helped save an impressive 1,667 tons of carbon.

We’re trying to make as many people aware of the services as possible; we recently translated some of our adverts into eight languages, and these appeared on Facebook and Instagram almost 87,000 times in ten days.

As ever, all the information is on our website (www.peterborough.gov.uk) and also www.greenenergyswitch.co.uk, where you can find out more about the help available.

There really is nothing to lose by doing this and we hope it can make winter less difficult for our residents.

Free school meals

School pupils across the city will no doubt be looking forward to breaking up for the Christmas holiday next week and we are reminding eligible families that they will again be receiving supermarket vouchers during the festive break.

Vouchers to the value to £35 will be sent automatically to eligible families using school data and information held by the council.

We want to make sure that all families eligible for free school meals have applied and are receiving them. All you need to do is fill in a simple form to benefit from support throughout the year at school and also during the holidays. There really is nothing to lose.

Information about free school meals and how to apply can be found here: https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/children-and-families/schools-learning/help-with-school-learning-costs/free-school-meals – all that is required are basic details and a national insurance number.

Finally, I was delighted to hear that the council has been ranked top out of all the highway and transport authorities in the eastern region.

The authority once again scored highly in this year's National Highways and Transport (NHT) survey, which asked residents across the country for their views on highway and transport services.

Peterborough was ranked as the best highways authority in the east. Nationally, the council was ranked as the 12th best highways authority out of the 111 included - improving its ranking by 27 places and scoring an above average satisfaction rating.

To be number one in the eastern region and very high nationally is a testament to our teams that work hard to ensure our roads and transport systems are of the highest standard that we can provide, so a big well done to all involved.