‘Postcode should decide rules’
A COUNCILLOR has called for postcode-based local restrictions to be introduced to combat the spread of Covid-19, rather than blanketing a whole local authority area.
Coun Sophie Whittaker (Con, Rastrick) made the call at Calderdale Council’s Adults, Health and Social Care Scrutiny Board, which was hearing public health and social care updates from senior officers.
She said areas like her ward were subject to local restrictions despite having low or no new cases of the virus because other parts of the borough were experiencing spikes, and asked Director of Public Health Debs Harkins what her thoughts on the proposal were.
“Is the council lobbying or think it is a good idea?
“Personally as a councillor in a ward where there has been no new cases in a number of weeks, the question from residents’ perspective is why can’t they see their family because of people in areas of Halifax they don’t engage with,” she said.
Coun Whittaker said where there had been increases in some other areas they had been because of workplaces but, for example, there was 17 miles distance between Brighouse and Todmorden.
“On the basis of fairness there may be a good argument that we should have postcodebased restrictions rather than borough-wide restrictions,” she said.
Coun Whittaker’s father, Calder Valley Conservative MP Craig Whittaker, has also been pressing for postcode-based lockdowns along with some MPs from other areas which the Government placed under local restrictions a month ago because of rising cases of Covid-19.
YOUR SAY: Should lockdowns be localised to postcodes?