Council leaders want restrictions to end because of virus rules confusion
COUNCIL LEADERS in West Yorkshire have called on the Government to lift all coronavirus restrictions covering Bradford, Calderdale, and Kirklees as they said the constant changing of the rules had become too confusing for residents to follow.
The three areas have been under enhanced restrictions since the beginning of the month, with residents unable to visit friends and family in their private homes, due to higher levels of coronavirus. The next announcement on restrictions is due to take place after a meeting of the Joint Biosecurity Centre ( JBC) chaired by Health Secretary Matt Hancock and England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty yesterday, with an announcement expected today.
But Susan Hinchcliffe, leader of Bradford Council, and Tim Swift, Calderdale Council leader, have now said restrictions should be lifted after Government messaging had become “confused and bungled”.
Mr Hancock previously suggested that, following lobbying from MPs, some wards within districts facing restrictions may be able to be lifted out of the rules if cases were low in those areas. But the leaders feared that this could lead to weekly changes as to which wards were covered. “Adding and subtracting restrictions ward by ward makes the already confused local regulations almost impossible to understand for residents so it begs the question whether restrictions across partial geography can be of any use at all,” they said in a joint statement.
“People’s patience is wearing thin with the confusion. They need to know that the restrictions are fair otherwise they won’t keep to them.
“We all know that there are wider health impacts that the restrictions are causing such as mental illness, and economic hardship that can have an equally detrimental impact and people are naturally now questioning the Government’s approach.”
But in a sign of the lack of local agreement on the way forward, Kirklees leader Shabir Pandor issued a separate statement urging Mr Hancock to lift restrictions “for the whole of Kirklees”.
Despite 48 hours of talks between council chiefs, political groupleadersandMPsinKirklees no consensus could be reached and local leaders were unable to present formally agreed recommendations, making a release from lockdown less likely.
A LOCAL lockdown is a “possibility” in one of the two remaining West Yorkshire districts where extra restrictions have yet to be imposed, a council leader has publicly acknowledged.
Wakefield council leader Denise Jeffery said she hoped restrictions in place in neighbouring Kirklees, Bradford and Calderdale would not be imposed in the city by the Government.
But both she and one of Wakefield’s most senior police officers have suggested for the first time that there is a strong chance the
area could become part of a West Yorkshire- wide lockdown.
The rate of new infections in Wakefield has climbed steadily in recent weeks after a drop at the end of last month and is classed as an “area of concern” by the Government. Figures in neighbouring Leeds have also risen sharply.
Coun Jeffery and District Commander Mark McManus, of West Yorkshire Police, made the comments at a local Covid recovery board meeting last week.
A recording of the meeting showed public figures from across the district discuss the prospect.
Chief Superintendent McManus told the meeting: “I don’t think any of us were expecting the other three areas to go into lockdown.
“I know Public Health nationally weren’t recommending that but the Cabinet Office took that option. I think it came a bit out of the blue to the three districts.
“Hopefully we shouldn’t ( go into lockdown), but I think it’s something we’re probably on the verge of.”
In response, Coun Jeffery said: “Let’s hope not. I think we’ve got to realise that it is a possibility, but let’s hope not.”
Almost 200 new cases of Covid have been confirmed across the district since the start of the month. The total number since the start of the pandemic has now passed 2,000 in the last fortnight.
Local leaders in Bradford, Kirklees and Calderdale were today waiting to hear whether the local restrictions placed on them by the Government would be lifted in part or district- wide.
The Mayor of Greater Manchester, where a number of areas remain in lockdown, said yesterday that coronavirus restrictions on a ward- by- ward basis are a
“recipe for utter confusion, division and chaos”. Council leaders in the region have told the Government they want to continue with a borough- wide approach as they recommended current restrictions on social gatherings in homes in Stockport and Bolton should be removed.
The next announcement on restrictions in parts of Greater Manchester, east Lancashire and West Yorkshire is due to take place after a meeting today of the Joint Biosecurity Centre chaired by Health Secretary Matt Hancock and chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty.
Last week Mr Hancock announced a more targeted approach to restrictions in which the views of MPs would also be sought to gain “the maximum possible local consensus”. He said this would allow councils to focus resources on the wards which need more targeted intervention.