Second home owners ‘seen sneaking into towns at night’
Call for tougher action to keep public out of tourist hotspots in West Country amid fears of Easter surge
SECOND home owners have been accused of sneaking into the West Country under the cover of darkness as plans emerged for the closure of tourist hotspots over the Easter weekend.
Amid warnings that the Government could introduce tougher measures including a ban on exercise if social distancing rules are flouted, some local authorities have called for roadblocks to prevent people flooding their areas over the bank holiday weekend.
Selaine Saxby, the North Devon MP, said she had raised with ministers the issue of second home owners sneaking into the county, and warned that local services could be swamped.
“I am deeply disappointed at reports I have heard over the weekend of the ongoing arrival of second home owners under the cover of darkness across the county to avoid roadblocks and have raised this matter directly with the police as well,” she said.
It came as a number of local authorities threatened to close their parks and beauty spots if people continued to have barbecues or sunbathe.
The Greenwich foot tunnel, which closed on Sunday after crowds of people used it to cross the Thames, will shut again over the bank holiday or until it can be proved people are abiding by lockdown rules, the council said.
Ministers are considering using “scare” tactics to warn the public that doctors and nurses could die as they ramp up messaging on the cost that people’s actions are having on the NHS.
“I think you will start to get those kind of messages coming from Government,” said a Whitehall source.
“There was discussion about how much people are observing social distancing. There is an issue of people not being as observant as they were last weekend.
“The worst of all worlds is having all this economic damage but not actually having the benefit of people observing social distancing.”
Simon Kempton, the Police Federation operational policing lead, said an “emotional” campaign highlighting the deaths of nurses and doctors from coronavirus was one way to get the minority of refuseniks to “want to comply rather than feel they have to”.
Police chiefs are cautiously optimistic that the lockdown may be having an effect. Police abstraction rate – the number of officers off ill or self-isolating – has dropped slightly from 13.1 per cent to 12.8 per cent.
Nonetheless, they still believe the lockdown – due to be reviewed at the end of next week – will be extended for at least another three weeks “on the basis that you have it for longer than you need it rather than have to lift it and have a resurgence,” said the source.
However, a senior police source said: “There is a real disappointment at what happened on the weekend. I believe that if Easter weekend is bad and people flout the restrictions again, they will increase the restrictions – that people will have to stay at home, no excuse, no nothing.”
Another option is to blitz high noncompliance areas with police.
Dame Cressida Dick, the Met Commissioner, said people who refused to leave public spaces when asked to do so would be forced to by the police. “If we have to we will be very firm in that, if somebody completely refuses – but this is an absolute last resort – it will result in enforcement.”
Frank Biederman, a Devon councillor, yesterday called on his local authority to endorse checkpoints on the regions’ main roads to catch people trying to sneak in from the cities amid reports that many holiday home owners had already relocated to the county.
In Cornwall there have been more than 200 reports of properties being rented out to holidaymakers despite Government guidance which states all such activity should cease.
The council said a number of Airbnb properties, two glamping sites, guest houses, a campsite, and a holiday cottage letting agency were among those still breaking the rules.