‘They might as well put up a sign saying Nottinghamshire is closed’

THE leader of Gedling Borough council says he is “very angry” about Nottinghamshire and the city being in Tier Three.

He said the Government had failed to listen to local leaders, who had pointed out that rates had been falling consistently and dramatically in places including Gedling and Nottingham.

John Clarke (pictured), Labour leader of the council, says he is now “very worried about the future”.

He said: “They might as well put up a big sign saying Nottinghamshire is closed.

“I appreciate the problems healthwise and everything else, but the damage to the economy – God knows when we’re going to be able to repair it, or even start to repair it.

“I know (the Tier Three status) gets reviewed after 14 days but I don’t have much hope for that. I think there will be a lot of good businesses go to the wall. “I’m extremely disappointed. We’ve been bringing the figures down for a long time, so the trajectory was there, and we wanted the Government to give us a chance. “We wanted the Government to give our area the chance to keep doing what we had been doing, and that’s getting those numbers down.

“I think it’s going to do untold damage to the economy. “I’m very angry at this, and the way this has been handled. Everybody’s been kept out of the loop. “I’m really worried now about the future. It was bad enough as it was.

“We need to see that forward plan, of where are we going to be in two or three months, how are we ever going to get out of Tier Three into Tier Two, so we can get some of these places open, because so many of these businesses simply cannot continue like this.”