Store warned over lockdown rules breach
OFFICIALS have warned The Range in Bridgend it could be closed for selling non-essential items.
Council workers gave an improvement notice to the homeware and garden retailer at Waterton Retail Park for selling non-essential items in store.
According to Bridgend County Council, officers from the Shared Regulatory Service (SRS) caught the store breaching Welsh Government guidelines on
Sunday and gave staff 48 hours to comply.
A convenience store and mobile caterer were also given improvement notices for failing to comply with coronavirus regulations over the weekend.
Officials saw a member of staff at Meg’s Chill and Grill, Cowbridge Road, Waterton, serving a customer with neither of them wearing a face mask, according to a council spokesperson.
Officers served a notice to
Londis, Tondu, on Saturday because the shop did not provide hand sanitiser at the store entrance/exit. They also ordered the store to change the layout of the premises to enable social distancing.
The SRS, a partnership between South Wales Police and Bridgend, Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan councils, carries out checks on licensed premises to ensure they comply with government guidelines.
SHOPS and hairdressers in Wales are already making preparations to reopen on Monday – in the hope the Welsh Government will this week give them the go-ahead to open their doors again.
The Echo understands guidance is being pushed out to retailers ahead of a potential March 15 reopening for non-essential shops, and many businesses have already started their preparations.
The next three-week review of restrictions is expected to be announced by First Minister Mark Drakeford on Friday.
At the last review in February, he hinted the reopening of non-essential shops and hairdressers would be included in this review if the coronavirus situation continued to improve.
The Welsh Government has said the final decision will be made tomorrow and announced on Friday.
The latest figures from Public Health Wales show the infection rate across Wales is now 44 cases per 100,000 of population based on the seven days up to March 4, well below the 50 cases figure the Welsh
Government had previously highlighted as key benchmark in its lockdown planning.
On Monday, no deaths were reported for the first time since the start of October.
The percentage of tests coming back with positive results is also continuing to fall and is now below the key 5% benchmark at 4.8% in the past seven days.
Business leaders’ organisation CBI Wales has been asked to help distribute reopening guidance from the Welsh Government to members ahead of that date.
Ian Price, CBI Wales director, said: “With transmission rates heading in the right direction and incredible progress being made on vaccination, non-essential retailers and close contact service providers will be looking to the potential prospect of a mid-March reopening with huge sense of relief.
“As jobs and livelihoods still hang in the balance, the prospect of bringing some economic activity back to struggling high streets and city centres represents a real step in the right direction for communities and businesses across Wales.
“But this optimism must remain tempered.
“Wales can’t afford for another sharp rise in transmission rates and for the country to return to a cycle of damaging restrictions.
“That’s why the Welsh Government’s approach of staggered reopening of sectors has the backing of Wales’ business community.
“As we move closer to proposed reopening dates, firms will be looking to work with government to ensure the process happens as safely and effectively as possible.
“Early sight of guidance will help significantly to ensure that happens.”
It is understood the Welsh Government has provided retailers with a checklist for businesses under their guidance for non-essential retail.
And there have been ongoing discussions about what to expect and how to prepare on that basis.
Items on the checklist include:
■Controlling entry and limiting the number of customers at any one time;
■Calculating the number of people who can reasonably follow two-metre physical distancing on the premises;
■Review the layout of the store to ensure aisles/walkways are as clear as possible to accommodate physical distancing, including the removal of promotional fixtures;
■Consider one-way systems using floor markings and signage to highlight system and direction;
■Schedule deliveries to avoid crowding in delivery areas;
■Limit the number of entry and exit points into and out of the premises;
■Consider staggering staff shift start, end and break times;
■Consider designating a colleague to meet customers, explain the physical distancing and other relevant measures;
■Consider whether temporary barriers should be available in case it is necessary to stop people joining a queue;
■Consider closing every other till point where till points are close together including for self-checkout tills;
■Encourage cashless purchases and refunds;
■Consider restocking/replenishing outside opening hours only; and
■Leave non-essential doors open to minimise the number of people who touch them.
A spokesman for John Lewis said they were waiting to hear the announcement on Friday before making a decision on whether to open.
Marks & Spencer said they were looking forward to hearing the guidance from the Welsh Government on Friday.
A spokeswoman said: “The majority of our food stores in Wales are already open as they are classed as essential retail.
“We’re ready to open our clothing and home stores in Wales as soon as the guidance allows it.”
Sara Jones, head of the Welsh Retail Consortium, said: “We hope that Friday’s announcement from the First Minister will give Welsh retailers and their staff and suppliers the certainty they need.
“Our discussions with retailers suggest they require some notice of
the date of re-opening in order to enable them to make the necessary preparations, for example in terms of workforce colleagues, stock, or suppliers.”
Our industry is committed to the safety of our staff, customers, and the public at large.
“Retailers have invested hundreds of millions of pounds on safety measures to ensure stores are Covid-secure.
“As soon as the government announce retail can reopen, shops will be ready to do so safely, ensuring the public have access to all the goods they are used to.
“Until then, many retailers who have been forced to close face financial challenges and mounting costs that threaten their short-term viability.”