OPPOSITION TO TIER 3 MOVE
Sunderland City Council and the LA7 believe current Tier 2 restrictions are working
North East council leaders have urged the Government not to impose stricter coronavirus controls on the region.
It was confirmed on Monday that the region would be placed in Tier 2 of the new three tier system for controlling the virus.
But on Wednesday, Boris Johnson suggested the Government wanted to see tighter restrictions imposed.
Now the leaders of all seven councils in Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and County Durham – known as the LA7 – along with the North of Tyne Mayor and the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, have issued a new statement underlining their commitment to work together and urging Ministers not to impose tighter controls.
“At every turn we have put any differences aside to work together for the benefit of our residents, businesses and communities,” it says.
“We took the decision early last month to approach the Government to ask for restrictions and resources to be put in place due to a worrying rise in the community COVID infection rate.
“While we welcomed the Government’s response, the package of measures we put forward to support this move was not delivered.
“Three weeks on, and there is evidence that the restrictions are starting to have an impact. Figures are moving in the right direction, with the rise in cases slowing and giving us cause for cautious optimism.
“We are concerned by the suggestion that a decision could be taken nationally to move our region into Alert Level 3, and we strongly oppose this at the current time.
“We are seeing evidence of a flattening of the curve and there is a collective view – shared by all the leaders, Chief Executives and critically our superb Directors of Public Health that, with the public’s support we can make Alert Level 2 work.
“Back in the spring it took a full month before we began to see the impact of the lockdown – it will take the same amount of time to see if our latest restrictions are working. We’re appealing for the Government to work with us and give the latest measures sufficient time to work before they think about more restrictions.
“The priority has and always will be the health of our residents and driving down the rates of COVID infection remains our focus, but we must also do as much as we can to protect our economy – and for that we need Government support.”
The statement says the Government needs to provide more financial support for the areas hardest hit by the pandemic.“A stronger package of financial support is required for those areas in both Alert Level 2 and 3,” it says.
“Such economic support will protect jobs, stop people sliding into poverty and give a much better base from which to quickly rebuild our economy as we come out of the pandemic.
“In addition, the failing test and trace system needs to be in the hands of the public health experts with knowledge and experience of local contact tracing stretching back many years. The local teams are already outperforming the national system so giving them the resources required will improve the situation immediately.”
It adds: “We are committed to working with the Government, but it needs to be a genuine collaboration, based on the data, rather than restrictions imposed upon us.”