Leader warns of parks shutdown
PARKS in Rochdale could be closed in a bid to stop the corona virus from spreading, the leader of the council has warned.
It comes as schools across Rochdale closed to many school children and pubs, bars and cafes were forced to close their doors to slow the spread of the illness.
Popular beauty spot Hollingworth lake was closed on Sunday following an ‘extraordinarily large’ number of visitors.
And now Councillor Allen Brett said the council is now looking at closing the parks.
He added: “I still think there are a lot of people who aren’t taking this as seriously as they should be.
“Hollingworth Lake was very busy over the weekend so we have closed it and are moving to close the parks where we can.
“A lot of people are selfisolating and taking notice, but there’s a lot that don’t.”
And he advised people they can still help their older friends and neighbours.
He said: “You can drop stuff off to older people as long as you keep a distance of two metres.”
Rochdale now has nine confirmed cases of coronavirus but the real number is expected to be much higher.
The UK death toll for coronavirus has now risen to 335, and the UK has seen widespread incidents of panic-buying. Cafes, bars, gyms, and leisure centres were closed nationwide on Friday, with McDonald’s and Nandos closing altogether and no longer offering home delivery.
Rochdale Borough Housing say they will now be dealing with emergency repairs and safety checks only.
And East Lancs Railway has made the decision to stop running all services with immediate effect.
The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has called on the Government to announce a new Stay At Home policy today to safeguard public health and limit transmission of the coronavirus.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain on ITV, the Mayor also called on the Government to use today’s press briefing to announce a new deal to protect the income of the selfemployed and a commitment to house all those sleeping rough with immediate effect.
Andy said: “We are entering a new phase of this outbreak and the Government urgently needs to move to a new policy. We have had too many mixed and confusing messages.
“Absolute clarity is now needed.
“In today’s press briefing, the Government needs to announce a new Stay At Home policy, backing up the powerful calls from NHS staff over the weekend. This policy would allow only a very limited number of exceptions, for instance to collect shopping, and must come with clear arrangements enforcement.”
Picking up the issue of the self-employed only being eligible to receive Statutory Sick Pay, the Mayor went on to say: “You also can’t build a sense of national unity if some are having their wages covered but five million selfemployed people are being told to live on statutory sick pay. The Health Secretary has said that he couldn’t live on it and nor should we expect others whose earnings have plummeted. This also needs to be corrected today.”
Finally, the Mayor reiterated his call for the Government to house all homeless people: “Yesterday I called on the Government to fund all councils so that they can house all people who are homeless or sleeping rough.
“No person should be forced to sleep on our streets, and there should be for an immediate package announced to allow us to get people into safe and secure accommodation.
“I think that these are policies that can unite people.
“We need to build a sense that everyone is in this together and everyone is being looked after.”
In a statement a spokesman for RBH said: “At RBH, our top priority is the safety of our employees and our tenants. As the need to support social distancing increases, we have taken the difficult decision to deal with emergency repairs and gas safety checks only. This is a temporary measure.
“Emergency repairs are as follows:
“Gas – no heat/no hot water
“Electrical – no power/ partial loss of power
“Joinery – insecure property
“Plumbing – uncontained leak/blocked toilet if the only toilet in the property
“Alarm team – communal doors and alarm activations
“Drainage – any blocked toilets/drains/baths at Freehold/Falinge/College Bank. Sewage from external drains.
“You can continue to report other repairs but we will not be able to give you an appointment for these whilst these temporary measures are in place.
“To report an emergency repair, ring 0800 027 7769 press option 1 and a customer service advisor will deal with your call. For all other repairs, report using our online form, e-mail us at rbh.repairs@rbh.org.uk, or ring us. We will let you know when we are able to carry out these repairs again. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we respond to the current unprecedented circumstances.”