Hopes shoppers will return to city

A DUNDEE councillor says he hopes residents will flock back to the city centre after the coronavirus lockdown is lifted.

Councillor Alan Ross, city centre convener at Dundee City Council, said he is looking forward to being able to spend time and money in the city once the outbreak is over.

On Tuesday the Tele revealed Google data gathered from residents’ mobile phones showed there had been an 80% drop in recreation and retail in Dundee since the coronavirus lockdown started.

The figures also showed a 73% drop in people using public transport, 55% drop in workplace mobility, and a 48% drop in grocery and pharmacy shopping.

But Councillor Ross is confident these statistics will go back up once the lockdown is lifted.

He said: “I don’t think things will go back to 100% normal, some habits from the lockdown will continue.

“But hopefully people will go back into the city centre and start shopping again.

“I think people will be looking forward to going back into the city centre.

“I do miss it as well, because Dundee is such a village, you always bump into someone you know in the city centre.

“It is weird to see the pubs boarded up and the shops with their shutters down, and it is not a condition any of us want to see our city centre in. It is a strange atmosphere.”

Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce, said this week it was vital businesses are supported to make sure they are able to survive the lockdown.

Mr Ross continued: “Online shopping has been an ongoing issue for the high street, and maybe some people who have resisted it before and now have no choice will slip into that. It may be difficult to reverse that but we don’t know until the lockdown is lifted.”

He added: “Personally, I can see things are much quieter than normal. I know where I live there are a lot of people out in the nice weather in their own gardens and they are speaking to their neighbours over the walls, so people are still managing to communicate with each other.”