News from the Health Secretary today sees all the Somerset districts put into Tier 2 coming out of Lockdown. The decision comes alongside tier allocations throughout England following the end of nationwide restrictions from Wednesday 2 December and the return of a localised system. The current Mayor of Bridgwater , Labour’s Cllr Leigh Redman was not impressed by the allocation and says he was gutted as numbers locally were going down. Here he investigates the situation more.
Leigh says “Like many of you I was gutted when we were set to tier 2, the numbers locally are going down, I hope that we can all take care and keep up the good work, so that when we reach 16th December, when the next review will take place we can be set down, but that will bring its own issues as going out and mixing just before Christmas might mean another peak in January. I asked what goes into the calculation of the tier level for Somerset, I understand that the level was set by using 5 pieces of information, 7Day incident rate Country wide, 7day incident rate for over 65, Positive case numbers, Capacity of NHS locally & r Rate locally. I will be lobbying for us to drop to tier 1. We can all do our part, I want to ask you all to remember to shop locally when you can, many of our local shops and traders are struggling, support our restaurants by eating out when you can or get a take away. Please help us to keep Somerset safe and follow the guidance.”
Tier Two : What it means
Sedgemoor, alongside Somerset more widely, will be placed in tier two. Full details on what you can and cannot do in the new level two restrictions can be found on GOV UK here. In reintroducing the localised approach, the Government are making a number of changes to the previous regional system:
- The 10pm closing time for hospitality has been modified to last orders at 10pm and closing time at 11pm. This allows customers to depart in a staggered way and provides greater flexibility.
- Across all tiers, non-essential retail will be able to remain open and operate in a Covid-Secure way.
- Gyms will be allowed to remain open.
- Spectator sport can resume with capacity limits and social distancing, providing more consistency with indoor performances in theatres and concert halls.
The measures will be kept under review, with the first review taking place before Christmas. This review will allow for the possibility of areas which continue to make progress in slowing the spread of the disease to be moved down a tier in advance of Christmas.