Deep freeze hits Gloucestershire warm space venues

Freezing weather is preventing people accessing warm spaces set up across a county.

Parts of Gloucestershire remain under snow cover, and icy roads and pavements have led to people being warned to stay at home.

Matt Fellows, chief executive officer of Age UK locally, said vulnerable people should not venture out.

One Gloucester warm space closed its facility on Monday, when hundreds of schools also shut.

Mr Fellows told BBC Radio Gloucestershire: "Within our communities, in the areas that won't have been gritted, people will still have dangerous footways and pathways.

"Encouraging older people or more vulnerable people out of their homes and into the community creates a risk of them falling.

"It creates a risk of them being exposed to a cold injury because they're out for much longer."

But he encouraged people not to sit in the cold and make themselves ill.

"If you are going to be at home, put your heating on, make sure that you keep warm - use your electric blanket, wear a hat, use a hot water bottle," he said.

Lez Jevins, a community development worker at the Podsmead Big Local centre in Gloucester, said their warm space had been closed on Monday because of the snow and ice, and because volunteers could not get there.

"Many of the people who come are elderly and have some mobility issues," he said.

Podsmead Big Local is part of a network of more than 20 warm spaces across Gloucestershire including community spaces, libraries and churches.

Mr Jevins said despite the freezing weather, some people remain afraid to turn on their heating.

"People have been telling me that they have real concerns about paying for their gas and electricity, people on pre-payment meters particularly are finding that the amount of money they're used to putting in weekly isn't lasting as long as it did before."

He said a young couple worried about energy costs came to Podsmead Big Local "because it's warm and they don't have to worry about the heating while they're with us."

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