Services over the 2025 festive period

Chelmsford City Council services

Over Christmas and New Year, there’ll be some changes to the availability and opening times of Chelmsford City Council’s services. On 24 December, the main Civic Centre will be closed to the public, but our phone lines will still be open from 10am to 2pm.

Our main offices and customer service phone line will then be closed over the festive period and will reopen for normal business on Friday 2 January 2026.

Residents wishing to access Council Tax services via their online account will be able to do so 24-hours a day over Christmas. Benefit recipients can also use online accounts whenever they wish.

Waste and recycling collections

There are no scheduled collections on Thursday 25 December, Friday 26 December 2024 or Thursday 1 January. To keep everything running smoothly, there’ll be three weekend catch-up collections instead which will have a knock-on effect on other collection days, so please check your printed calendar or look online before putting your bins out.

As gift and food packaging is bound to be in plentiful supply over the festive period, don’t forget to find out what you can put in each of your bins and recycling sacks.

As a reminder:

• Put in your paper sack: wrapping paper that isn’t foil-based or glittery, white envelopes.
• Put in your card sack: Christmas cards (not glittery), brown envelopes, brown paper, cardboard packaging.
• Put in your plastics sack: any plastic packaging that can be recycled, along with plastic bags.
• Put in your black bin: polystyrene (please don’t leave this inside cardboard packaging being recycled or put it in the plastic sack), gift bows, ribbons and fruit and veg netting.
• Don’t put in your bin or kerbside recycling: batteries should never be put in your general waste or recycling sacks. When crushed or exposed to heat they can easily catch fire, putting our crews at risk. Drop them off at dedicated battery recycling points in libraries, supermarkets and local recycling centres.

Check what goes in each bin here: https://www.chelmsford.gov.uk/bins-and-recycling/what-goes-in-each-bin. If you're taking items to a recycling centre, find information about Essex County Council’s Chelmsford Recycling Centre opening times and what items are accepted.

Recycle your real Christmas tree

If you’re looking to recycle your real Christmas tree following the festive period, you can sign up for Farleigh Hospice’s Christmas Tree Recycling by 4pm on Tuesday 6 January. They’ll be collecting trees for a donation between 9 and 12 January 2025.

If you have a garden waste subscription, you can also put real Christmas trees in your brown bin for collection, cut into manageable chunks (branches must be less than 30mm in diameter).

Support services

Homelessness services

If you’re concerned about someone who you think is sleeping rough, you can send an alert to StreetLink to connect them to local services. If you need help, you can also refer yourself. Street Support Chelmsford also offers advice and connections to many local services in our area.

If you are currently homeless or threatened with homelessness and need advice and support, you can make a self-referral. If your situation is an out-of-hours homeless emergency, call 01245 606606 to be directed to an appropriate option.

Warm spaces

With the weather turning colder, some of us will be looking for warm and welcoming spaces to visit this winter. Street Support Chelmsford has a list of welcoming spaces across the district that are either free or low-cost local places to keep warm.

There are options available throughout the week, with some places like Chelmsford Library open Monday to Sunday apart from Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. 

Essex Frontline

Essex Frontline is a simple tool to connect you to community services. It’s free, local and easy to use through a dedicated website or their free app (search Frontline Referrals in the app store). Look for help, select a service and request a callback.

Domestic Abuse support

Essex Compass is a partnership of domestic abuse services providing a response in Essex. Call the helpline on 0330 333 7 444 or visit their website for more information: https://www.essexcompass.org.uk. Their helpline is available as usual during the Christmas period from 8am to 8pm weekdays and 8am to 1pm weekends. If someone is in immediate danger always call 999.

Alternatively, you can reach out to the National Domestic Violence Helpline on 0808 2000 247. They’re available 24 hours a day and offer support to women experiencing domestic abuse. Calls are confidential, and they also offer a translation service and a service for people with hearing difficulties.

The Men's Advice Line offers help and advice to men experiencing domestic abuse. You can call them on 0808 801 0327 on weekdays between 10am and 5pm. They also offer advice by email or webchat.

Mental health services

If you need help for a mental health crisis or emergency, you should get immediate expert advice and assessment. Get help from 111 online or call 111 and select the mental health option. If someone’s life is at risk, or you do not feel you can keep yourself or someone else safe, please call 999 immediately or go to A&E. A mental health emergency should be taken as seriously as a physical one. You will not be wasting anyone's time.

There are services available offering confidential support from trained volunteers. You can talk about anything that's troubling you, no matter how difficult:

• Call 116 123 to talk to Samaritans, or email: jo@samaritans.org for a reply within 24 hours
• Text "SHOUT" to 85258 to contact the Shout Crisis Text Line, or text "YM" if you're under 19

If you're under 19, you can also call 0800 1111 to talk to Childline. The number will not appear on your phone bill.

These services will only share your information if they are very worried about you or think you are in immediate danger.