Street divided by lockdown border
AS new lockdown restrictions hit areas of the North West last week, residents of one street found themselves in a very unusual situation.
Under rules issued on Thursday night, people living in Greater Manchester and parts of East Lancashire were banned from meeting with other households.
Those restrictions didn’t quite stretch to West Lancashire, a decision which meant that Dave Higham and family were suddenly living under different rules to their next door neighbours,
That’s because the border of West Lancashire and Wigan, Greater Manchester, is marked by an underground culvert which falls exactly between Dave’s house and that of his neighbour Dave Welsby on a housing estate in Orrell.
Despite the area having a higher infection rate than Wigan, he is not affected by the new restrictions as he lives in West Lancashire.
As a result, Dave, along with other households on his half of the street, is able to host family and friends at his home or meet them in pubs, Mr Welsby and those in the other half cannot.
Wigan currently has the lowest infection rate of all Greater Manchester boroughs, with 7.6 cases per 100,000 people in the week ending July 28.
Meanwhile, Lancashire had an infection rate of 10.9 per 100,000 over the same time period.
Dave said: “It’s strange that we can carry on and they can’t. In a way I feel relieved I live where I live because I’m going away to Cornwall tomorrow with my partner.
“I’m not going to take the mickey out of them, but I’m not sure what they will all think when I roll up in my caravan in the morning.”
Just yards away, it a different story.
For Mr Welsby and his wife, Wendy, the hardest thing will be not being able to see their grandchildren.
Since March, the pair have been shielding due to Wendy being ill, but relatives have been able to visit them in their garden as long as they are at a distance.
Under the new rules, they will no longer be allowed.
“My granddaughters were supposed to be coming for tea today,” explained Mr Welsby, 68. “We have had to cancel, which is a shame.”
Despite lockdown restrictions being relaxed in recent weeks, Mr Welsby has remained cautious. We haven’t been going out much anyway,” said the retired builder.
“I get my shopping delivered by my son. My two lads are very protective of me and they won’t let me go out.
“At the end of the day, it is just up to you to be sensible. I would not like to give the virus to anybody.
“We just have to knuckle down and get on with this.”
Across the road, Ray and Eileen Cook are also under local lockdown.
They say the situation on their street is ‘silly’ but admit they aren’t too bothered by the new restrictions.
“I thought things were moving too quickly anyway,” said Ray, 69.
“Most of our family live abroad and we haven’t been seeing our friends.
“We’re trying to be careful because we are classed as vulnerable because of our age.
“I don’t think it will make much difference. The people who want to go out will go out anyway.”