Richmond will be closing its schools to the majority of pupils after Friday (March 21), following government guidelines on COVID-19.

Yesterday, [March 18] the Council announced that it would be responding to the Government’s guidance regarding social gatherings and encouraging social distancing.

This means that all events organised by the Council or scheduled to be held on Council property are cancelled or postponed.

However, now that the Government has announced that schools will close to most pupils from the end of Friday, the Council is to go one step further and has announced that at 4pm today [March 19], Richmond will be closing all of its sports centres.

In addition, from 4pm on Friday [March 20] all of Richmond's network of libraries will also close and all Children’s Centres from March 23.

There are no plans to curtail or suspend refuse and recycling collections and these are continuing to operate as normal.

Day centres that support disabled residents and those with learning disabilities are currently being kept open, but this will remain under review.

Residents can keep updated with the latest developments @LBRUT via Twitter or visit Richmond online for more information.