Outdoor exercise ban threat
Police chief accuses NHS supporters of being hypocrites as sunbathers and picnickers gather in parks and public areas to make the most of the warm weekend weather
OUTDOOR exercise in public spaces could be banned if people continued to flout the coronavirus lockdown rules, Matt Hancock warned yesterday.
The Health Secretary also said sunbathing in public spaces was against the government guidance, and told those who disobeyed they were putting their own and others’ lives at risk.
Mr Hancock told yesterday morning’s BBC The Andrew Marr Show: “I don’t want to have to take away exercise as a reason to leave home … if too many people are not following the rules.”
Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, said he would support a ban on exercise, saying: “We do have to take whatever steps are necessary”.
Government sources told The Daily Telegraph the lockdown rules would be reviewed next week. The rate of increase in coronavirus-related hospital deaths slowed slightly yesterday, up 621 to 4,934 patients. Officials said this was most likely because hospitals take longer to record deaths at weekends.
ON Thursday evening the streets of Primrose Hill, one of London’s most exclusive suburbs, were ringing out with people clapping and cheering for the NHS.
But by Saturday, the same residents had been branded hypocrites by a senior police chief who accused them of turning their back on the doctors and nurses they had so effusively proclaimed their support for just days earlier.
Police posted a picture on Twitter of dozens of groups of people lounging around on Primrose Hill Park, as they said they moved on over 100 people who were enjoying “full picnics” complete with blankets, sunbathing or catching up with friends.
Chief Supt Raj Kohli, who oversees policing in Camden and Highbury, which are among the most densely populated parts of London, remarked that “many of the people in this picture were clapping the NHS on Thursday yet two days later we see this”.
He added that the NHS would “rather people stayed at home than behave the way that they are behaving”.
Primrose Hill was just one of multiple parks and outdoor spaces around the country where people flouted rules on social distancing over the weekend.
Saturday’s hot weather saw thousands of Londoners taking to the city’s parks to sunbathe and enjoy picnics. Brockwell Park in South London was closed yesterday after it received 3,000 visitors on Saturday with many of them “sunbathing in large groups”. Newham Police in east London said they had been called to clear a birthday party with 25 guests.
Meanwhile, in the North East, surfers were pictured on the beach at Tynemouth, and car parks were closed at Epping Forest and Markeaton Park in Derby to stop non-residents flocking to the area.
Matt Hancock warned that outdoor exercise could be banned if people continue to “flout” the Government’s social distancing rules.
The Health Secretary described the scenes as “quite unbelievable” and confirmed that sunbathing in a public space is against government rules.
Mr Hancock warned that if people continued to disobey social distancing guidelines then he would be prepared to “take action”.
Police patrolling the Royal Parks – which manages some of London’s most famous parks including Hyde Park and Richmond Park – said they came across “several groups meeting up with bottles of wine and food hampers” for a picnic on Saturday, adding that this was not a “reasonable excuse” to be outside the house.
More than 60 people were “moved on” from St James’s Park in central London yesterday, as police said that “having a picnic is not essential”.
Sunbathers and groups of people exercising together were told by officers to go home from Roath Park in Cardiff yesterday. Police patrol cars drove onto the grass to confront members of the public who appeared to be in breach of the government guidelines.
In some parts of the country, officers stepped up patrols over the weekend. In Peckham Rye Park, southeast London, a police van drove through with a speaker telling people not to sunbathe and that only exercise was allowed.
Yesterday Epping Forest car parks were closed due to overcrowding, with police starting to redirect drivers to go home and exercise somewhere more local. The forest will remain open for residents who arrive by foot or bicycle.
One proposed solution to the issue of overcrowding in parks, which is currently under consideration by ministers, is the introduction of a rota with time slots allocated to local residents.
Harriet Harman, the Labour MP for Camberwell and Peckham, said that volunteer park wardens could help to enforce this. “Families in flats with young children need our precious green spaces,” she said.
Christopher Worman, who is a member of the Government’s parks advisory committee, urged ministers to keep parks open as he warned that closing them would lead to smaller green spaces being overwhelmed.
If people continued to be blasé about social distancing in parks then tighter enforcement would be necessary, he said. “There has to be an increased presence of police or other bodies of authority to get that message across.
“The current approach is to talk to people and persuade them to move on as opposed to coming down heavyhanded. That is the right approach, but if that isn’t working then fines need to come into play. If people continue to use gym equipment, playgrounds and ball courts in parks, then enforcement and being far more proactive with fining people is the next step to change people’s behaviour.”
Chief Supt Kohli said that without a “shadow of a doubt” there were people who were concerned about the NHS and wanted to be respectful of the rules, but still broke them. This group was the hardest to police, he said.
“It is easier to police people who are taking the mickey, having parties and so on,” he said, adding that people who spent their time looking for loopholes in the law were “completely missing the point”.